Frontier slashing Henrietta call center jobs

May 1, 2019 -- Frontier Communications plans to cut 280 positions at its Henrietta technical support center by mid-summer.

Javier Mendoza, Frontier's vice president for corporate communications and external affair, made the announcement in a statement. The affected jobs are non-union positions.

Rochester Drug Cooperative agrees to $20 million settlement

April 22, 2019 -- A Gates-based pharmaceutical distributor helped spur the opioid epidemic by allowing pharmacy customers to push excessive amounts of painkillers, federal authorities said.

Federal criminal and civil investigations since 2017 into Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc. led to the first criminal charges against drug company executives for diversion of opioids, prosecutors said. Rochester Drug Cooperative subsequently agreed to a $20 million settlement to partly resolve the Drug Enforcement Administration accusations and agreed to implement a system to correct lax oversight.

RDC officials Laurence F. Doud III, who had served as chief executive before being ousted, and William Pietruszewski, the former chief of compliance, were criminally charged. Pietruszewski has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities. The indictment against Doud alleges that he knew powerful pain medications were being "sold and used illicitly."

From 2012 to 2016, RDC's oxycodone sales to these pharmacies soared from 4.7 million pills to 42.2 million, authorities said. Fentanyl dose sales climbed from 63,000 to 1.3 million.

RDC is a cooperative of pharmacies, an arrangement that some authorities characterize as potentially dangerous when it comes to oversight. RDC, founded in 1905, previously settled a 2015 civil lawsuit from the U.S. Attorney's Office by paying $360,000 in penalties after admitting that it underreported purchase orders.

Another guilty plea in fraud against Xerox

April 19, 2019 -- A Florida man pleaded guilty to a scheme that defrauded Xerox Corp. out of more than $20 million of printer toner.

Robert Fisher of Daytona, Fla., admitted in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Wolford, Fisher will pay the IRS $192,495.42, plus interest and penalties, for filing false tax returns. He will also forfeit assets that were already seized..

Brothers Kyle Haynes, Jason Haynes and David Haynes, along with Bryan Day, all of Daytona, previously pleaded guilty to similar charges. Carlos Garza of Michigan was convicted of conspiracy to transfer stolen property last year and ordered to pay $1.37 million in restitution. He received five years of probation. Co-defendant David Meidel was also convicted.

Pizza chain founders hit with 78 felony counts

April 18, 2019 -- The couple who founded te Rochester region's Cam's Pizzeria chain has failed to report nearly $5 million in sales, the Monroe County District Attorney's Office alleges.

Carmelo and Rosanna Calascibetta were indicted by a Monroe County grand jury on 78 felony counts each to conclude an investigation that began in 2016, according to Assistant District Attorney Michael Bezer, who said the couple owed nearly $400,000 in state income tax as a result of under-reporting sales between 2011 and 2015 at seven Monroe County locations.

Fifty-eight of the 78 counts are for first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, stemming from quarterly sales tax reports to the state. The remaining charges are five counts of first-degree grand larceny, 13 counts of third-degree criminal tax fraud and two counts of third-degree grand larceny.

Cam's Pizzeria lists 17 locations throughout Western and Central New York. The Calascibettas opened their first location in Geneva in 1980.

The couple was originally charged in August 2018, Bezer said.

Details sketchy as Marketplace Mall signals change

April 15, 2019 -- A public hearing about a potentially "transformative" proposal in the works by owners of The Marketplace Mall was lacking in key details.

The hearing at Henrietta Town Hall concerned Wilmorite's request to the Imagine Monroe industrial development agency to assert eminent domain to alter certain parking rights and easements for remaining mall tenants in order to make the vacant Macy's space workable for the unidentified prospective new tenant.

A written statement from Wilmorite Vice President of Finance Kevin Wilmot said "the transformative tenant that will have positive impacts for Marketplace Mall and positive fiscal impacts for every community in Monroe County" but maintained his company is currently limited by a strict non-disclosure agreement with regard to the new tenant.

The 1.1 million square-foot mall opened in 1982 has about 100 stores.

Town Supervisor Steve Schultz had said last summer that UR Medicine was considering the Macy's site for a new orthopedic center. UR Medicine officials would not confirm whether they were involved, issuing a statement saying they are "exploring multiple potential options to meet this rising demand for UR Medicine Orthopaedics. We're at the early stages of the process and have many factors to evaluate before making any further comment."

Imagine Monroe Executive Director Jeff Adair said he did not know the identity of the tenant that would be accommodated by eminent domain proceedings on 25 acres of land surrounding Macy's.

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