7 days ago
Rome mayor charged with second-degree harassment, due in court July 16
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was edited to include a statement from Rome Mayor Jeffrey Lanigan.
Rome Mayor Jeffrey Lanigan has been charged with second-degree harassment after an alleged incident early June with former Rome Mayor James Brown.
The charges were confirmed through the New York State Unified Court System.
According to New York State Penal Code, second-degree harassment, a violation, entails when another person does one of the following:
Strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects such other person to physical contact, or attempts to threaten to do the same.
Follow a person in or about a public place or places
Engage in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which alarm or seriously annoy such other person and which serve no legitimate purpose.
Oneida County Sheriff's Office call logs list a call going out at around 7:56 p.m. on June 3 to Teugega Country Club on Keeler Road in Rome for harassment.
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In a June 4 statement, Lanigan said there was a verbal dispute that occurred that did not turn physical. Lanigan further stated Brown was intoxicated.
Brown declined comment to the Observer-Dispatch.
In a statement, Lanigan confirmed the summons.
"[On June 19], I was issued a summons for the non-criminal violation of harassment in the second degree stemming from the recent incident on June 3," he wrote. "I look forward to the opportunity to address this matter."
I want to sincerely thank the many people who have reached out with their support. It means a great deal to me and my family.
Herkimer County District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter was named special prosecutor in the case. He did not return calls for comment.
Lanigan is to go before Judge Timothy Kirwan in Rome City Court on July 16 at 11 a.m.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Rome mayor charged with second-degree harassment
