By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
POUGHKEEPSIE — An administrative law judge for the state Department of Corrections and Community Safety (DOCCS) adjourned a final parole hearing for Edward Kindt on Thursday after hearing testimony of parole violations related to his absconding from a Dutchess County halfway house last month before his arrest in Salamanca July 23.
Kindt, 41, was convicted of the murder of Penny Brown on Mother’s Day 1999 and sentenced to nine years to life in 2000. He was paroled last year over the objections of Salamanca area residents and elected officials.
State DOCCS officials notified the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office at 10:30 p.m. on July 22 that Kindt had failed to keep an appointment with his parole officer and had left the Dutchess County area.
Sheriff’s deputies, investigators and members of the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force were dispatched to look for Kindt and located him within three hours at his boyhood home on West Avenue. Kindt was taken into custody without incident.
A preliminary hearing was held July 24 in Poughkeepsie and Kindt was ordered held in the Dutchess County Jail until the final hearing by an DOCCS administrative law judge.
With Kindt’s final parole hearing adjourned for two weeks, State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, said he and others will have more time to pressure Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Parole Board into realizing how dangerous he is.
“The last time he violated parole he was sent to jail for a couple of weeks, Borrello said. “Now we’[ve got more time to make more calls.”
This time, Kindt disabled his ankle bracelet before absconding from the group home where he resides.
Borrello said under the new Parole policies “Less Is More,” Kindt’s parole violations may be considered technical violations that do not require jail. It is more like a slap on the wrist, he added.
A DOCCS spokesman said a department review of Kindt’s parole violations is ongoing.
The Buffalo News reported that Kindt, who is accused of 15 parole violations, could face as many as five years in state prison or as little as 30 days in county jail when the hearing resumes Aug. 15.
A parole revocation specialist recommended Thursday that Kindt be sent back to prison for two non-technical violations: tampering with evidence and obstructing governmental administration.
Cattaraugus County Undersheriff Eric Butler still hasn’t heard a good answer why DOCCS waited six days to notify local law enforcement that Kindt had apparently left the Dutchess County area.
