Liquor store owner foils theft
Injured perp charged with petit larceny
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

PHOTO BY ROB PRICE Bath resident Marlea Sherwood, owner of Sherwood's Wine and Liquor, dsplays the pricing gun she used to break up a theft at her West Steuben Street store Wednesday. The perpetrator injured himself while fleeing and has been charged with petit larceny.

BATH - The owner of a West Steuben Street liquor store Wednesday interrupted an attempted theft, chasing the perpetrator from the store and down Steuben Street. The perpetrator, unidentified by Bath police as Steven J. Ordway, 29, of 67 E. Morris St., Bath, fell in front of the Bath branch of Community Bank, smashing a bottle of liquor against his body and leaving shards of glass on the sidewalk.

Police said Ordway has been charged with petit larceny and will appear at a later date in Bath village court.

The owner of Sherwood's Wine and Liquor, 77-yearold Marlea Sherwood, said she was talking to a friend in front of her store at about 12:10 p.m. when she saw Ordway walk into the business. Sherwood alleged he took a bottle of liquor from a shelf and tried leaving the building.

"I grabbed a pricing gun and took off after him," Sherwood said.

Bath police say Ordway ran down West Steuben Street in the direction of the Steuben County Office Building. He fell on the sidewalk, shattering the bottle of dark rum between his body and sidewalk. The resulting lacerations needed 27 stitches, police said, after catching up with Ordway in the vicinity of the Bath ambulance garage.

"He's lucky I didn't catch him," Sherwood said. "I'd have broken my pricing gun and that would've disappointd me, 'cause it's expensive."

Sherwood's store was involved in another crowd-stopping incident Thursday, when a car driven by an unidentified individual jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the front of the building, shattering the window. There were no injuries or charges.