Grand jury hands down July indictments

NORWICH – A Binghamton man was indicted by a Chenango County Grand Jury on July 26 on charges that he allegedly rammed a stolen vehicle into a state police car.

The jury indicted James A. Giacalone on three charges connected to a May 8 incident in the Village of Bainbridge during which prosecutors allege he slammed a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee into a trooper’s car. During the week of the incident, The Evening Sun reported that around 2 p.m. on May 8 in the southeastern county village, Trooper Bruce J. Hamilton observed a vehicle pull into a parking lot that was reported stolen in the City of Binghamton. Upon approaching the vehicle, the car and its occupant, Giacalone, allegedly sped away heading east on state Route 206. Another state police cruiser operated by Trooper George F. Hafele Jr. of the Sidney barracks was heading westbound on the same road.

According to a state police report, Hafele stopped his vehicle along the westbound lane of the bridge spanning the Susquehanna River, and Giacalone then allegedly braked hard, sliding his vehicle head-on into the trooper’s. According to the report, the Binghamton man then fled on foot until he was captured. Giacalone faces charges of criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree and reckless driving.

Also indicted were:

• Travis Foster, 18, address unknown, who faces a three count indictment for his alleged connection to the Sept. 14 armed robbery of the Earlville Quickway gas station. Foster allegedly acted in concert with other defendants to bilk the station of $277 with the use of a knife.

Foster made national news early last year when he and South New Berlin man, Kenneth D. Peer, were arrested for forcibly tattooing an obscene message on another Norwich teen’s forehead. The obscure case made last page news on several national papers, and the ordeal was again covered by the Associated Press when the victim was offered free tattoo removal services from Michigan Dr. Greg Roche.