By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
LITTLE VALLEY — Cattaraugus County lawmakers voted Wednesday to condemn the administrative law judge who sentenced Edward Kindt to seven-days in jail for fleeing supervised parole and going to Salamanca in July.
Kindt was sentenced to 12 years to life in prison in 2000 for the brutal murder and rape of Penny Brown on Mother’s Day 1999 on a railroad jogging trail.
He was paroled over the objections of family, friends and local elected officials in March 2023. Kindt was assigned to a halfway house in Poughkeepsie and ordered to wear an ankle monitor. He was also ordered by the Department of Corrections and Community Safety (DOCCS) to stay out of Salamanca. The Seneca Nation Tribal Council has banished him from the territory.
Officials from DOCCS in Albany notified the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office late July 22 that Kindt had absconded from Dutchess County and was suspected to be in the Salamanca area. Hours later in the early morning hours of July 23, sheriff’s investigators and deputies located Kindt at the West Avenue home and took him into custody without incident.
The legislature’s resolution, introduced for immediate consideration on Wednesday, is the third one approved by county lawmakers this year. Another was passed in 2023 immediately after Kindt’s release from state prison on parole.
The resolution approved on Wednesday condemns Administrative Law Judge Michael Masasa, who sentenced Kindt to seven days in the Dutchess County Jail for absconding parole and journeying to Salamanca.
The resolution notes this was Kindt’s second parole violation, and that he was written up while in prison for exposing himself to female officers and for drug use and possessing contraband. Resolution sponsor Chairman Andrew Burr, R-Gowanda, said Kindt “should never have been granted parole in the first place.”
In August, legislators approved another resolution condemning DOCCS and community supervision for its “extreme failure to supervise Edward Kindt,” and demanding the state Parole Board revoke the release and remand Kindt to prison.
Earlier this year, legislators demanded Kindt be returned to prison after he was arrested in late 2023 for violating the terms of his parole and jailed from Nov. 27-Dec. 15. At that time, legislators “vehemently condemned” the Parole Board for allowing Kindt’s release and demanded his return to prison to serve a life term.
And soon after Kindt was paroled in March 2023 legislators called for the immediate resignation of Caryne Demosthenes and Carlton Mitchel for voting to release Kindt on parole. He was released after serving 23 ½ years for murdering Penny Brown.
All legislators were added as sponsors and the resolution was approved unanimously.
ALSO WEDNESDAY, a local law was introduced to establish a Cattaraugus County Animal Abuse Registry and to repeal a 2021 law. It was sponsored by Burr, Timothy Nagel, R-Randolph and Ginger Schroder, R-Farmersville.
The purpose of the Animal Abuser Registry is to prohibit abusers from obtaining animals after they have been found guilty of neglect.
Schroder, who wrote the local law to update the earlier local law she also authored, indicated that there is a near 100% recidivism rate for certain types of animal abuse — including animal hoarding. There is also “a strong correlation” linking those who abuse animals with incidents of domestic abuse.
Violations of animal abuse that would trigger listing someone in the Animal Abuse Registry include:
- Animal fighting.
- Torturing and injuring animals; failure to provide sustenance.
- Aggravated cruelty to animals.
- Abandonment of animals.
- Failure to provide proper food and drink to impounded animals.
- Carrying an animal in a cruel manner.
- Poisoning or attempting to poison animals.
- Interference or injury to certain domestic animals.
- Throwing a substance injurious to animals in a public place.
- Clipping or cutting the ears of dogs.
- Companion animal stealing.
- Removing, seizing or transporting dogs for research purposes.
- Sexual misconduct with an animal.
- Harming a service animal.
- Killing or injuring a police animal.
- Harming an animal trained to aid a person with a disability.
Legislators voted to set a public hearing for Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. in the James J. Snyder Legislative Chamber at the County Center on Court Street here.
Legislators were also unanimous in their support of a resolution by Burr to urge New York to delay enforcement of advanced clean truck rules that require manufacturers to build a certain percentage of medium and heavy-duty trucks to run on electric battery power.
The state legislation, Burr said, will lead not only to shortages of electric vehicles, but of gas and diesel-powered trucks as well.
Legislators also approved a resolution to rent additional space in the old Cattaraugus-Little Valley Elementary School for the county attorney’s risk management. The county has already leased two rooms for risk management at $9,078. The new room will add $3,789 to the cost. There is a 2% annual increase.
