A second man was arrested last week for allegedly breaking into a Cobleskill village apartment last month and restraining a man with duct tape and beating him.
After a continuing investigation into the January 18 break-in on North Grand Street, William B. Shafer, 21, of Stillwater was arrested Thursday afternoon, said Cobleskill Police Sergeant Rich Bialkowski.
Vincent L. McGrath Jr., 37, of Glenville was arrested by village police on January 24 in connection with the break-in.
The two men are accused of breaking into the apartment by forcing open the front door at about 10am and taping and striking a 29-year-old man. The men allegedly threatened the victim with an electronic stun gun and took some of his personal possessions before leaving the apartment, police said.
The men also cut the victim’s phone line to prevent him from calling for help, police said. He was able to free himself and contact police.
According to police, the victim said he believed the incident occurred because he owed the subjects money he received from an escort service. The man may have owed the service $2,000.
After conducting interviews in Troy, Watervliet, and Glenville, Cobleskill Police were able to identify the escort service as Aphrodite Escorts and identify Mr. McGrath as one of the men involved in the break-in.
Since Mr. McGrath’s arrest, police have been gathering information on the second suspect.
Police were able to track down Mr. Shafer on information developed through interviews from record data bases including phone records to the victim’s home, said Sergeant Bialkowski.
Mr. McGrath, Sergeant Bialskowski said, was the boyfriend of the woman running the escort service while Mr. Shafer was an associate or friend of Mr. McGrath. Neither man appeared to be an employee of the service.
Mr. Shafer was charged with second-degree robbery, second-degree burglary, second-degree unlawful imprisonment and petty larceny, police said. Mr. McGrath was charged with the same in addition to fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, the Taser gun.
Mr. Shafer was arraigned on warrants in Cobleskill village court and sent to jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond to return to court on February 26, police said.
No further arrested are expected and unless further charges are added during grand jury action, Sergeant Bialkowski said no further charges are expected.
There are no legal complaints against the victim and no charges against him are expected to be filed, police said.
The victim was treated for minor injuries at Cobleskill Regional Hospital after the incident.
During the break-in, police said they took medication and identification out of the victim’s wallet.