LIVINGSTON COUNTY – Local contractor Douglas Shanley, who was accused of defrauding residents of the Genesee Valley for years, decided to give up on his right to a trial and fully admit to his misdemeanor charges and now awaits sentencing on July 7.

According to Assistant District Attorney Joshua Tonra, Shanley, 37, was indicted by a Grand Jury on five felony counts of both Forgery in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, but the felony counts of the indictment were thrown out by Judge Robert Wiggins because the crimes committed did not meet the requirements of Forgery. Shanely decided to plead guilty to the two misdemeanors of the indictment, Petit Larceny and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property last Friday with no sentence promise from the District Attorney’s Office.

“There was and is no offer from the People for Mr. Shanley,” said ADA Tonra. “Though it is disappointing that there are no felonies for this case, we argued against that interpretation of the law and are arguing for the maximum penalty possible, one year local jail and one year consecutive, for a total of two years.”

The original allegations were that Shanley would have potential clients make checks out to ‘Douglas Stanley’ and later altered the checks to say ‘Douglas Shanley.’ Judge Wiggins found that the alteration to the checks did not constitute a Forgery.

Shanley and his attorney Michael Stivers were scheduled to go to trial on Wednesday, May 20.

Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty said in earlier press releases that Shanley has been wanted for several months for defrauding residents across the Genesee Valley, in Livingston, Monroe, Steuben, Ontario, Genesee and Orleans counties, and was arrested and extradited from Lebanon, Tennessee in early October 2014.

PHOTO CAPTION: (Photo/Livingston County Sheriff’s Office)

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