Released from prison just 10 days earlier, Casatelli was "a man on a mission," said lawyer for the prosecution Shannon Sarfoh in her closing statement: "He was going to have sex with a woman, any woman, regardless of her consent or lack of consent." 

The jury was selected on Monday and the case is expected to go to the jury Thursday or Friday.

Thieves have been comitting “crimes of opportunity,” say police in neighboring Guilderland and Albany.

Two women who were accused of abusing their animals this summer have had their cases resolved. A Berne resident who had been arrested for eight counts of abuse pleaded to one count. A dog breeder from Westerlo, who been charged with three counts of animal abuse, had her charges adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. The lawyer who represented both women said they never intended to harm animals.

Anthony Gentile, 57, told Judge Gary L. Sharpe of the United States District Court on Monday that he was “of course terrified of prison,” prior to being sentenced to five years on child pornography charges.

Michael Harrison was arrested by Albany Police in a random traffic stop, after he drove the wrong way down a one-way street.

Brenda Hill, who was arrested in March for driving drunk in Bethlehem, was sentenced this week to one year in Albany County’s jail, before the Honorable Peter A. Lynch in Albany County Court.

A Knox man was arrested after it was discovered he had a room full of weapons and explosives. After a call had been made concerning his suicidal declarations, police searched for him and found him at an East Greenbush motel.

Police have pictures of two women they say stole a dog from a store at Crossgates Mall; the dog is back but the suspects are at large.

WESTERLO — A Westerlo man has been arrested for unlawfully growing marijuana after Albany County Sheriff’s deputies and New York State Parole officers inadvertently found the plants while searching for another man who had broken parole.