'Bike Path Rapist' moved to Adirondack prison

[samanthajane13]

Associated Press - September 19, 2007 7:05 AM ET

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - The Buffalo area's "Bike Path Rapist" has been sent to a maximum-security state prison in the Adirondacks.

Altemio Sanchez pleaded guilty earlier this year to killing three Buffalo-area women. He also admitted to raping many others over nearly 30 years. 2 of the killings and many of the rapes occurred along bike paths in suburban Buffalo.

Sanchez was sentenced last month to 75 years to life in prison.

A state Department of Corrections official says the 49-year-old former factory worker from Cheektowaga is now incarcerated at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, near Plattsburgh.

The official says Sanchez is in a unit that houses prisoners who are considered a risk to be in the general prison population.

His new neighbors at Dannemora include serial killer Joel Rifkin and Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, who shot three state troopers last year, killing 1 of them.

[samanthajane13]

Sanchez sent to prison in Adirondacks

Assigned to unit for those believed at risk in the general population

By Michael Beebe

Updated: 09/19/07 8:43 AM

Altemio C. Sanchez, the convicted Bike Path Killer, got a new home over the weekend when state corrections officials shipped him to the Clinton Correctional Facility in the Adirondack Mountains.

Sanchez, who admitted killing three women and raping numerous others over a span of nearly 30 years, will spend his time with some of state’s most notorious prisoners in a special unit at Clinton.

A virtual murderers’ row officially known as APPU, or the Assessment and Program Preparation Unit, Sanchez’s new home houses prisoners who are considered a risk to be in the general prison population.

Prison authorities deemed Clinton to be the best permanent home for Sanchez because of its unit for prisoners like Sanchez, who might be attacked by others because of their crimes, said Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind unit,” Foglia said.

Among Sanchez’s 249 new neighbors is Joel Rifkin, one of New York’s worst serial murderers, who killed as many as 19 women, many of them prostitutes, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was arrested after police found a decomposing body in the back of his pickup truck.

Also on Sanchez’s unit is Vincent Johnson, the Brooklyn Strangler, a homeless crack addict who murdered five women in the late 1990s. Those convicted of sex crimes are also housed in the unit. The infamous were also inmates in Clinton’s special unit, including Robert Chambers, the Preppie Killer convicted in the 1986 murder of Jennifer Levin in Central Park. And Tupac Shakur, the late rap artist, was in the unit in 1995 on a sexual abuse conviction.

The Correctional Association of New York, a watchdog agency, said in a 2004 report that Sanchez’s new unit is “a program to assess and treat inmates who may be vulnerable in general population due to their crime, their personal characteristics or the presence of enemies.”

In June, Sanchez was attacked by another inmate in the Erie County Holding Center when the other inmate realized he was the Bike Path Killer. Sanchez was struck in the head, causing facial cuts, and suffered aggravation of a previous shoulder injury.

Also housed at Clinton, but under 23-hour-a-day lockdown, is Ralph “Bucky” Phillips, who shot three state troopers, one fatally, during his lengthy run from the law following his escape last year from the Erie County Correctional Facility.

“He’s in administrative segregation,” Foglia said of Phillips. “He’s been deemed a threat either to the facility or himself.”

Sanchez gave a three-hour interview in August about his crimes to Erie County prosecutors before he was sentenced to 75 years to life. He was thought to have requested the meeting to see if he could be sentenced to a prison closer to Buffalo and his family.

District Attorney Frank J. Clark later said they learned little from the session, suggesting that Sanchez lied through much of it, and prosecutors did not recommend any specific prison to the judge.

As it is, Sanchez was sent to one of the state prisons the farthest away from Buffalo after he left the Elmira Reception Center last weekend.

Foglia said the decision was based on what prison could best handle Sanchez, not its distance from Buffalo.

Located in the village of Dannemora, 185 miles northwest of Albany, Clinton is also one of the state’s oldest prisons. It was built in 1845, its 60-foot concrete walls were added 43 years later, and it currently houses 2,854 inmates.

Sanchez will be spending his time in a single-bunk cell.

Sanchez will not be leaving the prison system anytime soon. His first parole hearing is set for November 2081, when Sanchez, now 49, would be 124 years old.

[samanthajane13]

2007 Yalem run takes on special meaning
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

For 17 years, UB has honored the memory of slain student Linda Yalem and promoted personal safety by holding a 5K race on the North Campus.


But this year's event, the 18th annual Linda Yalem Safety Run, has special significance for members of the UB community with the capture of the man responsible for raping and killing Yalem in September 1990 as she trained for the New York City Marathon on the Amherst bike path.

Altemio C. Sanchez pleaded guilty to being the bike path killer, responsible for murdering three women, including Yalem and Joan Diver, wife of UB faculty member Steven Diver. He is now serving a sentence of 75 years to life in the state prison system.

To honor the Western New York law enforcement agencies instrumental in apprehending Sanchez, the university has named the agencies honorary starters for the Sept. 30 race. Representatives of the agencies will be recognized and receive a framed photo and race numbers. Among those expected to attend the start of the race are H. McCarthy Gipson, Buffalo police commissioner; Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard; Gerald Schoenle, chief of University Policy; Investigator Josh Keats from the New York State Police; and Lt. Joe LaCorte and Detectives Michael Rose, Ed Monin and Ted Donoto of the Amherst Police Department.

The university also will recognize Emily Ward, former women's swimming and diving coach and assistant athletics director, who with the late Nan Harvey, associate athletics director, originally suggested the idea of holding a race to honor Yalem. Both Ward and Harvey served as senior women's administrator.

With the capture of the bike path rapist and murderer, the race this year is bittersweet for the entire UB community, notes Andrea Costantino, director of student life and race director for the Linda Yalem Safety Run. "This is a special and emotional year for the race," Costantino says. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of Linda Yalem and the other victims."

"A dark cloud has been lifted and we are especially thankful to the many law enforcement agencies that finally put an end to this mystery," she adds. "UB will continue to hold the race to promote personal safety to the running and walking community."

Years after its founding, the race continues to be a significant event for the UB community, says Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs.

"Years ago, when this race was suggested to me by Nan Harvey and Emily Ward from UB Athletics, the outpouring of support for the cause was amazing. That it continues nearly two decades later is a testament to the strength of our community and the strength of the bonds we share as parents, sisters, friends, husbands and partners," Black says.

More than 1,000 runners and walkers, and more than 600 volunteers are expected to participate in the run, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 30 on the North Campus.

The 5K USA Track and Field-certified race, one of UB's most enduring traditions, is one of the most popular races in Western New York and a qualifying race for the Buffalo News' "Runner of the Year" series.

The race, which is open to serious and casual runners and walkers, will start and finish outside Alumni Arena. Overall male and female finishers in the open division will receive cash prizes. Post-race events will include food, prize raffles, merchandise and a Kids' Dash.

Registration fees are $20 for the general public and $15 for UB students. The registration deadline for runners/walkers is Sept. 27; volunteers must register by tomorrow. For more information or to register, click here (http://www.lindayalemrun.buffalo.edu/).

Sponsors of the race are Campus Dining and Shops, Certo Brothers, Chakra Communications, Family Justice Center, Joseph Galanti/iDesign Ideas, Pepsi, SYSCO, Trinity Marketing, the Division of Student Affairs, United University Professionals and the University Bookstore.

Race friends are the Division of Athletics, the UB Alumni Association, Niagara Walkers and Runners' World.