Week in Review

Ballston Spa stalker sentenced to probation
Michael Fuschino, the 48-year-old habitual offender who made over 40 harassing phone calls to an elderly Ballston Spa woman pleaded guilty last week to the conviction of aggravated harassment and was sentenced to three years probation.
Fuschino has a colorful history of harassment and jail time. Since 1979, he has been arrested over six times and has spent time in jail for misdemeanor convictions, and in state prison for felony convictions.
Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III, who has asked Village Justice Tom Schroeder to sentence Fuschino to the maximum year in jail on Monday, said in a statement "Fuschino's antics may never have done anyone any bodily harm, but they have made the lives of any number of people in the region quite miserable."

Saratoga County, Capital Region sees decline in sales tax revenues
New York State's sales tax revenues for 2009 are down $1.4 billion dollars from the previous year. In 2009, Saratoga County sales tax revenues fell 8.26 percent from 2008 figures; that's a shift from $96.9 million to $88.9 million within the last year.
Quad/Graphics to grow three-fold
Quad/Graphics, which is the largest privately-held printing firm in the U.S., has finalized plans to purchase Worldcolor, a Montreal-based provider of print, digital and related services. The transaction is expected to close in the summer of 2010 and will expand the Quad/Graphics family to 30,000 employees, including the 800 employees currently working at the W.J. Grande Industrial Park in Saratoga Springs. Quad/Graphics' management estimates that the combination will generate approximately $225 million dollars in pre-tax net annualized synergies within 24 months.

Leader of identity theft ring targeting elderly woman is sentenced
The head of an identity theft ring known as "flip, bite and write," which targeted elderly women  across the Capital Region, including Wilton, Latham and Clifton Park, was sentenced on Wednesday, January 27.
The identity theft scheme targeted elderly women shopping in grocery stores. Teams led by John W. Windle, 44, of Philadelphia traveled to locations where retail stores, usually one that sold groceries, were located in close proximity to stores where electronics could be purchased, such as Best Buy, Circuit City or Sears.
A team member would distract the elderly female victim in the store ("the flip"), while Windle stole the woman's credit cards ("the bite"). Windle would then return to his vehicle nearby and, using a laptop and ID printer, made a false identification document (ID) in the victim's name with a picture of one of the ring members traveling with him. The false identification documents included state driver's licenses and United States Armed Forces identification cards. Using the stolen credit cards and fake ID, the team purchased expensive electronics, miscellaneous merchandise, and gift cards, signing the victim's name to the credit card receipts ("the write").
The "flip, bite and write" scheme earned Windle a sentencing of 46 months in prison for the identification document fraud and wire fraud, 24 months for the aggravated identity theft counts and three years of supervised release, along with forfeiture and full restitution to the victims of his crimes.
Windle admitted that he and ring member Ann M. Grice carried out the identity theft scheme in the capital district region in July 2004. Grice remains at large.