March 30, 2023 at 11:48 a.m.
Former Newbold supervisor pleads not guilty in election fraud case
By River News Staff-
Staskiewicz, 69, was arrested in February following an investigation by the Oneida County sheriff's office into paperwork connected to his run for re-election this spring.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigator with the sheriff's office met with town clerk Kim Gauthier on Feb. 3. Gauthier told the investigator she received an anonymous complaint on Jan. 31 reporting concerns that Staskiewicz forged signatures on his nomination papers, which were already filed with the town at that point.
After receiving the information, Gauthier reviewed the nomination papers and told the investigator it appeared the signatures were written in a similar handwriting.
She then notified town chairman Dave Kroll who referred the matter to the Oneida County district attorney's office.
"Gauthier stated Gauthier was now concerned there could be other documents in question with the same type of activity, as Staskiewicz had been on the Newbold Town Board for approximately 10-12 years," the complaint states. "Gauthier was able to retrieve another document from Gauthier's records, titled Declaration of Candidacy. Staskiewicz signed that document. It appeared that in the same manner, names were signed by the same person."
The investigator assigned to the case noted 24 of the 31 names on Staskiewicz's candidacy papers for this spring's election appeared to be legitimate.
Each of the seven suspicious signatures were investigated further, and each of the persons contacted said they did not sign or give Staskiewicz permission to sign their names in support of his candidacy.
Staskiewicz, who resigned from the Newbold board following his arrest, was originally charged with one count of misconduct in public office and one count of election fraud - falsifying or destroying nomination papers, recall petitions, etc. However, the information - the formal charging document in a criminal case - filed Monday included only the single count of election fraud/nomination certificate.
Kroll, the outgoing town chairman and a retired law enforcement officer, previously told The Lakeland Times he doesn't want people to lose sight of Stazkiewicz's years of service to the community.
"The actions that he's accused of, those allegations can't negate the many years of the dedicated service he has given to the town," Kroll said. "So, I think we've all been around long enough to know sometimes good people make bad choices, and I know Jim to be a good man. I expect that we will see him acknowledge whatever mistakes he may have made and accept the consequences for those mistakes."
Staskiewicz is due back in May 23.
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