Former Parole Board chief has laptop case adjourned toward dismissal: Alexander also pays county $500 for keeping laptop computer in his home.
Full story by Matt Gryta, in the Buffalo News, 03/14/09.
"George B. Alexander, forced to resign as head of the state Parole Board after he was accused of stealing a laptop computer, was granted a six-month adjournment in contemplation of dismissal Friday.
Buffalo City Judge Jeffrey F. Voelkl issued the ruling for Alexander, 56, who had faced stolen property charges. The state attorney general also agreed to the sentence.
Alexander’s lawyer, John V. Elmore, said Alexander, who had previously served as Erie County probation commissioner, handed over a $500 check to Erie County for having the laptop for a year.
Elmore said Alexander “just forgot” he left the laptop in his Buffalo home in the swirl of activity that sent him to Albany for his job on weekdays, his attorney said.
Under the arrangement, Alexander’s adjournment will expire June 23 — six months after he was arraigned in Buffalo City Court on felony grand larceny and stolen property charges — “and he’ll have a clean slate,” Elmore said.
Alexander currently is a part-time criminal justice instructor at Buffalo State College.
Alexander, who returned to Buffalo on weekends, oversaw a parole operation with an annual $279 million budget and 2,300 employees. However, he neglected to surrender to the county the $1,700 Gateway laptop, which he brought home so his computer-savvy son could check out its bells and whistles, Elmore said.
Elmore said Alexander admitted in writing that he had the laptop from January 2007 to April 2008, when he returned it to the county, and admitted he “deprived” the Erie County Probation Department of its use... ..."
