GENESEE COUNTY/The sheriff's office is investigating after the vacant historic Odd Fellow Lodge was burglarized and vandalized Friday night

According to Genesee County Sheriff's Office Investigator Ryan DeLong, the sheriff's office opened a criminal investigation after the historic Odd Fellow Lodge at Rt. 5 and Rt. 237 was burglarized.

According to building owner James Pontillo, he arrived at the property Friday evening and discovered several doors were open and vandalism had taken place inside the building.

On April 25, 2024, an abandonment notice was placed on one of the front doors by Gene Sinclair, Stafford Code Enforcement Officer. Pontillo said he received a notice at his residence in Stafford on June 8, 2024, regarding the certificate of abandonment.

“I just received a notice on June 8 on my door saying that the building was abandoned, so I was never served, and we don't hang out at our house all the time so there you go, they have my email, they have my phone number, they never made a phone call, so I'm coming to the meeting (regular city council meeting July 8, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.) to find out more,” says Pontillo.

According to the certificate of abandonment filed with Genesee County on May 1, 2024, the building located at 6177 Main Street Road in Stafford was inspected by Stafford Code Enforcement Officer Gene Sinclair and he determined that the property is vacant and has been used for commercial purposes and is therefore a commercial property.

Excerpt from the displayed abandonment certificate:

[The property is not sealed or continuously guarded, a vacate order (issued in 2017/date crossed out and now says 2019) prohibits occupancy of the property and the property has had a property maintenance violation that has the potential to injure or endanger the health and safety of others or unreasonably annoy others and has been continuously outstanding and not remediated for a period of at least one year from the date of the original order to correct a notice of violation that was served upon the property.

The order lists an unfinished roof, fire escape is missing, damaged an open soffit that has deteriorated, torn missing weatherproof coating, electric meters are not secured attached, coverings are not secure, no working fire alarm system, no fire separation, insufficient fire resistance as there is no fire rated construction visible on the exterior, and upon information and belief-the interior of the building there are open laths on walls, building structure is neglected. The property presents a threat to life and safety due to inadequate maintenance of the property and it is unfit for habitation and the building structure lacks sufficient fire resistance.]

“Here's the problem, the taxes are paid, there's power coming into the building, and they've made over 50 phone calls trying to cut off the power, the power company called me and told me that we have had enough of these things people are calling us, anonymously, it was Gene Sinclair, it was Mr. Mullen and other people are calling us, that the building is not safe. , there is a fire hazard, we are going to have problems, you have to turn off the electricity, they said they are tired of answering the phone There is also gas on here because we are heating the. building. “

After the break-in was discovered, Pontillo worked to secure the doors that were damaged in the incident. The sheriff's office said it will release information in the form of a news release if its criminal investigation leads to a suspect or suspects in the break-in/vandalism incident.

Previously:

-August 8, 2015

STAFFORD/Pontillo property in Stafford not up to code, city says it can't be occupied – Video News Service

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