CONTACT: Barbara Burns
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that James A. Pane, 50, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of threatening by mail to injure or intimidate and unlawfully damage and destroy property by means of an explosive, was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, who handled the case, stated that between January 23 and February 2, 2021, Pane set off three explosions, one near the residence at 94 Leander Road, and two near 288 Falleson Road in the City of Rochester. Residents of 94 Leander Road heard two loud booms that shook the entire house, and the explosion caused a hole the size of a softball and burn marks in the siding of the house and damaged a window.
Between February 24 and March 9, 2021, Pane mailed 10 letters to 10 separate residences in the Falleson Road/Leander Road neighborhood. Similar in nature, the plain white envelopes had no return address and were all processed through the main United States postal plant on Jefferson Road in Henrietta, NY. Each contained a single piece of paper with large, printed words stating: “I don’t mean to bother you people in this neighborhood. But the little (expletive) crack head at 288 Falleson owes me a lot of money for drugs. He is a liar and a thief. He burned down his father’s cottage in the 1000 island for the insurance money, which he was supposed to pay me off with. He didn’t. I will keep throwing bombs off in his yard until he pays. call the cops they won’t catch me.”
On March 2, 2021, investigators searched Pane’s garbage at his Harding Road residence and recovered a list of numerous Falleson Road and Leander Road addresses, including the house numbers. Nine of the 10 addresses which received the threatening letter were on the list. The 10th address (288 Falleson Road) was the address of the target of the explosions. Pane had an ongoing dispute with an individual that he believed was spreading false rumors about him. Pane threatened the individual several times to stop spreading the rumors but when the individual did not stop, he made the explosive devices and started setting them off. Pane sent the letters in hopes that the neighbors would confront the individual.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New York Field Division; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia, the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Interim Chief David Smith, the Rochester Fire Department, under the direction of Chief Felipe Hernandez Jr., and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff John Garcia. Additional assistance was provided by the Buffalo and Syracuse Resident Offices of the ATF.
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U.S. Attorney Ross appeared on MSNBC to discuss her appointment as U.S. Attorney and her priorities…
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