ELLENVILLE – The rash of criminal behavior the village's police department has been facing over the last several weeks shows no sign of abating, according to Police Chief Phil Mattracion. Early Monday morning saw yet another break-in attempt at an Ellenville business, this time at D'Lites.

"It wasn't an actual break-in, it was an attempted," said Chief Mattracion on Tuesday morning. "They couldn't get in — they broke off the door lock, and smashed the door so bad that they jammed the door, and apparently were scared off by something."

The chief believes that the perpetrators of this attempted break-in are the same as the ones who broke into three other Ellenville businesses last week: Maggi's Country Store and Café, the Hair Encounter, and the European Deli.

"We're still pursuing several leads. We believe we have some good suspects in this, and we'll see where it goes," said the chief.

Later on, at about 8:30 on that same Monday morning, the police attempted to coax Wallkill resident (and former Ellenville resident) Shawn Richardson out of the residence of a relative at 140 Berme Road. Police were attempting to execute two arrest warrants out of the Town of Wallkill: one on a felony parole violation and one for assault in a violent domestic incident that occurred in Wallkill.

"While police knew that Mr. Richardson was in the residence, his sister, his girlfriend, and a friend of his was telling us that he was not in the residence — they were not complying, telling us that he wasn't there. We were trying to get him out of the house, peacefully, and he would not come out. So, after some discussions with his attorney by phone, at 10:15, Mr. Richardson walked out and surrendered without incident." Richardson was charged with a felony parole violation and assault in the third degree, and was remanded to Sullivan County jail without bail.

Also arrested were Thomas Healy, 20, of Pine Bush; Jacklyn Garcia, 25, of Ellenville; and Shonda Richardson, 30, also Ellenville. All three were charged with obstruction of government administration, and were released on appearance tickets. The police were assisted in this instance by the State Police in Liberty and the Ulster County Sheriff's Department.

Finally, the chief also answered some lingering questions regarding the shooting on Tuesday, April 28, which took place at Berme Road Park, and left Alex Jorge with a gunshot wound to the back of the neck. As reported last week, Jamin Ward, a former Ellenville resident was arrested and indicted by Ulster County court a few days later. As to the gun Ward allegedly used to shoot Jorge — who has since been treated and released from the hospital — the police are still investigating its whereabouts.

However, Chief Mattracion was able to answer some questions as to why Jose Navio, Jorge's brother, was not charged despite reports that he fired a weapon into the air. The reason, said the chief, is because the weapon he fired wasn't actually capable of firing bullets, just making noise. Navio had fired a starter's pistol, a detail police had known since obtaining the pistol the day after the shooting, but were unable to officially allow the Shawangunk Journal to release until it had been confirmed by a firearms expert, which occurred late last week.

"The gun in and of itself looks as real as it gets. It ejects rounds and does everything else — we wanted to make sure that a real bullet cannot be fired through that chamber," said the chief. "We believed from the onset that it was a starter pistol. If it turned out not to be, then we would've prosecuted the individual.

"A starter pistol is not illegal in and of itself. However, if you use it in the way that could be determined as menacing towards another person, then, of course, there could be a charge… In this case, the only charge that could've been fired against [Navio] would've had to come from Mr. Ward, and he retained a lawyer and exercised his right to remain silent, and therefore we cannot establish that Mr. Ward was menaced in any way."

"It's been a busy, busy month," concluded the chief. "We're still on that busy roll."

COMMENTS about this article (56)