Area news roundup

Cherry Valley woman charged with $36K fraud

Tue, May 13 2008

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Power outage affects about 22,000 customers

COBLESKILL _ Power was out for about 22,000 customers Wednesday because an insulator was broken on a high-voltage line in the Cobleskill area, a National Grid spokesman said.

The initial outage at 6:30 a.m. affected customers along the Interstate 88 corridor at least as far west as Schenevus in Otsego County, said spokesman Patrick Stella.

By rerouting the supply, power was restored by about 7 a.m. Wednesday to about 16,000 customers, Stella said. The switch provided time to fix the problem, he said, and as of 2:20 p.m., all power outages resulting from the broken insulator had been restored.

{"headline18"/}Poughkeepsie man, 44, arrested after fight

NEW LISBON _ A Poughkeepsie man was arrested earlier this month after a reported fight at a seasonal residence on Parker Road.

During the investigation into the disturbance, Andrew Hanson, 44, was found to be in possession of a small amount of cocaine and several rifles and shotguns March 8, according to a media release from Otsego County sheriff's deputies.

Because Hanson is a convicted felon, he is prohibited from possessing firearms, deputies said.

One of the firearms was a shotgun reported stolen from the Poughkeepsie area, deputies said.

He was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

Hanson was released from custody pending further court action.

A Cherry Valley woman was arrested Monday on charges she defrauded the Department of Social Services out of more than $36,274.

Laura M. Lee, 60, submitted seven application forms in the towns of Hartwick and Middlefield to DSS that contained false information, according to the Otsego County District Attorney's Office investigators.

She received $18,698 in the town of Hartwick and $17,576.59 in the town of Middlefield, investigators said.

Lee was charged with seven counts of first-degree offering a false instrument and three counts of third-degree welfare fraud. All of the charges are felonies.

Lee was released on her own recognizance to appear at later dates in Hartwick Town Court and Middlefield Town Court.