LIVINGSTON COUNTY – A Livingston County native and accused con artist was arrested and extradited from Tennessee on Friday after he apparently fled prosecution at the hands of the Livingston County District Attorney’s Office.
Douglas Shanley Jr., 37, was arraigned in the Livingston County Court before County Judge Robert Wiggins. He is charged with allegedly committing several fraud-related crimes, including four counts of felony Forgery, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, and Petit Larceny.
“We have information that Shanley has been fleeing for some time,” said District Attorney Greg McCaffrey. “We also have information that he has changed his name several times.”
Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty said that Shanley has been wanted for several months for defrauding residents across the Geensee Valley, in Livingston, Monroe, Steuben, Ontario, Genesee and Orleans counties.
A consumer supported fraud reporting site posted that Douglas Shanley, Jr., also known as Douglas Stanley, or Jesse James Construction, or Five Brothers Construction, could be posing as a contractor in hopes of getting hefty forward payments for construction work, then disappearing completely.
McCaffrey went into great detail about Shanley’s past with convictions of this nature, including a July 2003 conviction for Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in Genesee County, and a 1999 Attempted Burglary Conviction. McCaffrey went on to say that while on probation for the Attempted Burglary charge, he became violent and went to state prison for two years.
McCaffrey indicated that his office does believe that Shanley is capable of jumping bail if his bail amount is set too low.
“We do believe that he is a flight risk,” added McCaffrey.
Shanley is currently being held in the Livingston County Jail.
According to Sheriff Dougherty , when the conman contractor discovered Livingston County Sheriff Deputies were on his trail he bolted town landing in Lebanon, Tennessee. Shanley had quickly grabbed the attention of law enforcement officials there after lying about his identity and was taken into custody by law enforcement officials there.
PHOTO CAPTION: Doug Shanley. Image from Mobile Patrol.