MALONE — Two people are facing charges after allegedly causing damage to multiple buildings at the Franklin County Fairgrounds during the early morning hours of Wednesday, Sept. 16.
According to Malone Village Police William T. Andre, the incident was reported to the police later that day and as they investigated the incident, law enforcement discovered four buildings around the fairgrounds had been damaged including the Trackside Tavern.
“I think people generally refer to it as the beer tent. We found that it had been ransacked. There were smashed cans of alcoholic beverages all over the floor, someone had attempted to get inside the cash register, and the computer on the register had been ripped off,” Andre told the Telegram, “There were various other items inside that were damaged, including a clock, umbrellas, basically anything that was inside there was some damage.”
Andre said Detective Connor Hesseltine of the village police assisted with processing the scene.
“We collected evidence and through investigation, and we identified two individuals who had done this,” Andre said, “We have confirmed only two people did this.”
Andre said one of the individuals arrested was a minor, a 17-year-old male, while the other person that was arrested was Ethan Conklin, 18, of Malone.
Conklin was charged with one count of criminal mischief in the second degree, a felony, two counts of criminal mischief in the fourth, a misdemeanor, one count criminal mischief in the third degree, a felony, and four counts of burglary in the third degree, a felony, according to Andre.
“The reason for the multiple counts is because he went inside the fairgrounds and there are multiple stalls where he went into. It’s more than four storefronts but for example, where the midway is there’s a line of stalls and that technically is one building,” Andre said, “Though he may have gone into multiple storefronts it’s considered one building.”
Additionally, Andre said Conklin is facing two counts of criminal tampering, a misdemeanor, and five counts of conspiracy, a misdemeanor and three count of petit larceny, a misdemeanor.
“Some stuff was stolen, mostly it amounted to alcoholic beverages,” Andre said.
According to Andre, the minor who was arrested is facing the same charges as Conklin.
“They each have 18 counts together so that’s 36 charges total,” he said.
Andre said the juvenile who was arrested was arraigned in the youth portion of the Franklin County Courthouse on Wednesday, while Conklin was arraigned in Malone Town Court on Friday, then released to the supervision of probation.
According to Andre, there have a been a few minor incidents at the fairgrounds outside of fair week in the past but nothing to the scale of the damage caused last week.
“There’s been minor things here and there,” he said, “Nothing to this scale, where there are multiple buildings ransacked, multiple building with stuff stolen from them. Nothing like that before.”