Informant who tried to frame shop owner gets 6 to 12 years in prison
Framed shop owner blasts liar informant, police at sentencing
By Robert Gavin
Published 9:58 pm, Monday, March 10, 2014
James Slater. (Schenectady Police)
Dabb City Smoke Shop owner Donald Andrews stands behind the register counter on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Scotia, N.Y. He was arrested after a crooked confidential informant set him up on a false drug charge which almost sent him to prison for 25 years. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
Exterior of Dabb City Smoke Shop on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Scotia, N.Y. Owner Donald Andrews was arrested after a crooked confidential informant set him up on a false drug charge which almost sent him to prison for 25 years. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
One of many security cameras in the Dabb City Smoke Shop on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Scotia, N.Y. Shop owner Donald Andrews was arrested after a crooked confidential informant set him up on a false drug charge which almost sent him to prison for 25 years. The security cameras played a big part in proving his innocence. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
Schenectady
A police informant who framed a Scotia shop owner for a crack cocaine bust last year received 6 to 12 years in prison for perjury on Monday, but not before his victim blasted him — and police — for nearly destroying him.
"How many other people have you set up? How many other peoples' lives have you ruined?" Donald Andrews, owner of the Dabb City Smoke Shop, scolded convicted liar James Slater in Schenectady County Court. "I was doing good for myself until the day you decided to walk in my store and set me up."
Andrews said he was glad Slater is headed to prison, but told reporters he wished the former sheriff's department informant received a harsher sentence.
Slater, who has a prior felony conviction, framed Andrews to be arrested on April 6, 2013 — based on evidence he literally pulled out of his rear end. He pretended he purchased crack when he visited Andrews' shop on Mohawk Avenue twice in March. Slater removed crack cocaine from his buttocks, planted the drug on a table when Andrews walked away from the counter, then took out a tiny camera and photographed the incriminating evidence before putting it back in his pocket.
And that became the evidence he gave to police to prove that Andrews supposedly offered to sell him cocaine.
Slater lied under oath about the phony drug transaction before a grand jury, leading to perjury.
Andrews was cleared when the grand jury probing the charges requested the store video. Schenectady County prosecutors dropped the case. Slater pleaded guilty to perjury in January, resolving 14 counts against him.
Andrews blamed police as well as Slater.
"Who knows how many potential customers I lost because James Slater —and the Schenectady County Sheriff's Office — tried to ruin my life?" Andrews asked Monday.
Assistant District Attorney William Sanderson told Visiting Judge Polly Hoye that Slater "seriously put into jeopardy the integrity of the criminal justice system and the grand jury procedures."
Slater's attorney, Michael Mansion, said his client grew up in a troubled family situation and has mental health issues.
Slater apologized — then launched into a diatribe about being a police informant.
"No one here was in my position," Slater said. "No one here understands the pressure that you are put on by those people — how you're haunted every day, texted every day, people at your front door. Every time you step outside you're getting picked up by an unmarked car. It's not a walk in the park. It's you do what they say or you get done ... there was a lot more to it than is being portrayed. I just want to put that out there."
Andrews said he believed the publicity over his arrest ruined his reputation.
"I didn't know what my little sister would think of me. I didn't know what my grandmother would think of me. I didn't know what my friends' parents would think of me," he said. "I could be the one sitting here in that jump suit waiting to do a maximum of 25 years. I still do not understand how or why this happened to me. I can only imagine how things would be if I did not have those cameras."
Framed shop owner blasts liar informant, police at sentencing
By Robert Gavin
Published 9:58 pm, Monday, March 10, 2014
James Slater. (Schenectady Police)
Dabb City Smoke Shop owner Donald Andrews stands behind the register counter on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Scotia, N.Y. He was arrested after a crooked confidential informant set him up on a false drug charge which almost sent him to prison for 25 years. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
Exterior of Dabb City Smoke Shop on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Scotia, N.Y. Owner Donald Andrews was arrested after a crooked confidential informant set him up on a false drug charge which almost sent him to prison for 25 years. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
One of many security cameras in the Dabb City Smoke Shop on Friday, April 26, 2013 in Scotia, N.Y. Shop owner Donald Andrews was arrested after a crooked confidential informant set him up on a false drug charge which almost sent him to prison for 25 years. The security cameras played a big part in proving his innocence. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
Schenectady
A police informant who framed a Scotia shop owner for a crack cocaine bust last year received 6 to 12 years in prison for perjury on Monday, but not before his victim blasted him — and police — for nearly destroying him.
"How many other people have you set up? How many other peoples' lives have you ruined?" Donald Andrews, owner of the Dabb City Smoke Shop, scolded convicted liar James Slater in Schenectady County Court. "I was doing good for myself until the day you decided to walk in my store and set me up."
Andrews said he was glad Slater is headed to prison, but told reporters he wished the former sheriff's department informant received a harsher sentence.
Slater, who has a prior felony conviction, framed Andrews to be arrested on April 6, 2013 — based on evidence he literally pulled out of his rear end. He pretended he purchased crack when he visited Andrews' shop on Mohawk Avenue twice in March. Slater removed crack cocaine from his buttocks, planted the drug on a table when Andrews walked away from the counter, then took out a tiny camera and photographed the incriminating evidence before putting it back in his pocket.
And that became the evidence he gave to police to prove that Andrews supposedly offered to sell him cocaine.
Slater lied under oath about the phony drug transaction before a grand jury, leading to perjury.
Andrews was cleared when the grand jury probing the charges requested the store video. Schenectady County prosecutors dropped the case. Slater pleaded guilty to perjury in January, resolving 14 counts against him.
Andrews blamed police as well as Slater.
"Who knows how many potential customers I lost because James Slater —and the Schenectady County Sheriff's Office — tried to ruin my life?" Andrews asked Monday.
Assistant District Attorney William Sanderson told Visiting Judge Polly Hoye that Slater "seriously put into jeopardy the integrity of the criminal justice system and the grand jury procedures."
Slater's attorney, Michael Mansion, said his client grew up in a troubled family situation and has mental health issues.
Slater apologized — then launched into a diatribe about being a police informant.
"No one here was in my position," Slater said. "No one here understands the pressure that you are put on by those people — how you're haunted every day, texted every day, people at your front door. Every time you step outside you're getting picked up by an unmarked car. It's not a walk in the park. It's you do what they say or you get done ... there was a lot more to it than is being portrayed. I just want to put that out there."
Andrews said he believed the publicity over his arrest ruined his reputation.
"I didn't know what my little sister would think of me. I didn't know what my grandmother would think of me. I didn't know what my friends' parents would think of me," he said. "I could be the one sitting here in that jump suit waiting to do a maximum of 25 years. I still do not understand how or why this happened to me. I can only imagine how things would be if I did not have those cameras."
Bankrupt them my nikka, take them to the cleaners.
