Cazenovia police have arrested an 18-year-old Cazenovia College student on menacing, weapons and drug charges after he allegedly threatened two female students with a knife, and allegedly held a knife to one girl’s throat.
Dalton W. Ormsby, 18, of Oneonta, who is a student at Cazenovia College, was arrested on Oct. 7 and charged with two counts of menacing in the second degree (class A misdemeanor), two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (class A misdemeanor) and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana (violation).
According to police reports, the incident began as a domestic disturbance when Ormsby allegedly was engaged in a disturbance with his girlfriend, also a Cazenovia College student, sometime during the night of Sept. 25-26, in the Watts Hall dormitory of Cazenovia College. During the incident, a second female, also a Cazenovia College student, entered into the argument.
According to police, Ormsby allegedly held a “fixed knife blade” to the throat of one of the females and threatened her with it and put a different knife in front of the face of the other female and threatened her with it. He also threatened people by saying he had a gun in his dorm room, according to police.
Because of the complaint and the alleged threats, as well as on other information that Ormsby may have illegal drugs in his dorm room, Cazenovia police obtained a search warrant from Village Justice Timothy Moore. Upon execution of the search warrant, Cazenovia officers, assisted by Cazenovia College Campus Police, found two knives and a “small amount” of marijuana, said Cazenovia Police Chief Michael Hayes. Police did not find a gun in Ormsby’s room, and when questioned he admitted that he had no gun, he just liked to say he did in order to “bolster his reputation,” Hayes said.
Ormsby was arraigned before Fenner Town Justice Norman L. Watts and was sent to the Madison County Jail on bail of $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond. Orders of protection also were issued for the two victims.
Hayes said his department received “full cooperation” from Cazenovia College during the investigation, and called the arrest “another great team effort.”
Ormsby is currently suspended from the college pending the outcome of a college judicial board hearing, said Tim Green, director of communications for the college.
“No decisions have been made other than that in terms of expelling or further suspension. It will be determined based on that judicial board hearing,” Green said. “We are working with the Cazenovia police, but we cannot comment further being a police matter.”
