FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: MARCH 29, 2017
RE: PRESS RELEASE – MICHAEL E. WENDEL CONVICTION
After less than fifteen minutes of deliberations, MICHAEL E. WENDEL, age 59, a resident of 7034 Route 209 in Wawarsing, was found guilty by a six-member jury of Criminal Contempt in the Second Degree, a “Class A” misdemeanor.
On the evening of December 17, 2015, Wendel violated an Order of Protection, which had been issued for the protection of Ulster County Comptroller Elliot Auerbach and his family by the Honorable Kevin Hunt of the Town of Shawangunk Court.
The contempt occurred when Mr. Wendel aggressively approached Mr. Auerbach in the Wawarsing Town Hall in the Village of Ellenville. At that time he placed himself within inches of Mr. Auerbach with a camera in his hand, and made statements to Mr. Auerbach of a harassing and taunting nature.
Wendell will be sentenced on April 17, 2017.
The case was prosecuted by Ulster County Assistant District Attorney Justin F. Stenerson. The defendant was represented by Michael Bruhn, Jr., Esq.