EX-SHERIFF PLEADS GUILTY IN THEFT

AUBURN -- Three months after withdrawing his first guilty plea, former
Cayuga County Sheriff Peter Pinckney admitted in county court again on
Monday that he stole $4,000 in drug task force funds and used county
employees for personal jobs at his home.

Pinckney, 57, of Fleming, pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny,
first-degree offering a false instrument and defrauding the government. The
former sheriff, who held the office for 10 years, will be sentenced Aug. 23
and could face up to seven years in prison.

Judge Stephen Sirkin asked Pinckney if he understood there was no condition
to the guilty plea, that the sentence could be "everything from a
conditional discharge, probation, county jail, electronic home monitor or
state prison." Pinckney said he understood.

Defense attorney James McGraw said later that his client doesn't deserve
prison time and speculated Sirkin wouldn't sentence him to incarceration.

"We have every belief that the judge will do the right thing," McGraw told
The Citizen in Auburn. "There'll be no jail."

"He's prepared for whatever happens," McGraw added. "If he's sent to jail,
he'll go to jail. There's not much he can do about it."

In April, Pinckney withdrew guilty pleas on the same charges after another
judge was going to sentence him to 60 days in jail, saying he would rather
take his chances going to trial than do the jail time.

State prosecutor James Mindell of the Attorney General's office told the
newspaper that he will recommend "substantial jail time" because Pinckney
was working for the public as a sheriff. Mindell said greed leads most
people to steal, and it may have led Pinckney to take money from the Finger
Lakes Drug Task Force.