by Bea Peterson
On Monday, April 13, Keith Cipperly appeared before Judge Jaime Thomas in Schaghticoke Town Court and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. He was found guilty of misdemeanor charges of Falsifying Business Records in the second degree and Official Misconduct in that Court on Saturday, January 31. [private] Judge Thomas adjourned the case until April to give himself time to review recommendations. Cipperly faced fines and/or up to one year in jail. The community service will not be served in either Hoosick or Pittstown.
Cipperly was arrested on the charges on November 25, 2013. He was Supervisor of the Town of Hoosick at the time. Cipperly’s first court appearance was in Hoosick in December 2013. However the case was moved to Pittstown and then to Schaghticoke, where, after several months, the case finally came to trial.
The charges resulted from a letter Cipperly wrote stating that the home of Brian and Stella Sawyer, located at 22089 Route 22 in Hoosick, had been seen by Town Building Inspector Ed King and that King affirmed the distance between the well and the septic system at that residence, shown on an accompanying map. The home belongs to Tyler Sawyer’s brother. Tyler Sawyer was then the bookkeeper for the Town of Grafton, and he had asked Cipperly to have the Town confirm the distance between the well and septic at that property. Cipperly gave him such a letter, but when Cipperly subsequently asked King to inspect the property, King declined, stating it was a job for the County Health Department. The letter and map were submitted with an application for an FHA mortgage loan to the CUC Mortgage Corporation, in connection with the Hoosick Federal Credit Union, which brought the issue to light and prompted the charges. [/private]