Alleged Cazenovia ‘exercise stalker’ Daryl T. Anthony will be home for Christmas. He is out of the Madison County Jail on bail and scheduled to return to Cazenovia Town Court on March 5.

His case, in fact, was almost settled during his court appearance on Dec. 18, when the district attorney’s office offered Anthony a plea deal of 60 days in jail and three year’s probation, which would cover not only the one charge against him but any similar charges in the case in which he allegedly stalked 10 women in the town of Cazenovia. This deal was offered even though Anthony’s court-ordered mental competency exam had not taken place and was not scheduled to occur until mid-January.

“We may be premature, counselors,” Town Justice Timothy A. Moore said to Assistant District Attorney Robert A. Mascari and Public Defender David E. Sonn. “I want that examination completed first.”

Anthony was arrested Dec. 10 on one charge of criminal nuisance in the second degree, a class B misdemeanor, the result of him allegedly following approximately 10 adult women while they exercised in the town of Cazenovia on West Lake, East Lake, Chard, Ridge and Lincklaen roads between June and October of this year. He is alleged to have been driving his orange 2008 Hyundai Accent during this incidents, and that he drove with the rear hatch open in order to obscure his rear license plate. According to the charges, Anthony was allegedly performing a lewd act while he followed the women in his car.

Anthony was arraigned in Cazenovia Village Court before Acting Justice Patrick J. O’Sullivan on Dec. 10, during which Anthony was appointed a public defender, ordered that he undergo a mental competency exam before his Dec. 18 court appearance and orders of protection were issued against him on behalf of four of the alleged stalking victims. Anthony was ordered held in Madison County Jail in lieu of $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond bail.

Anthony was released on bail a few days after his arrest.

During his Dec. 18 court appearance, Anthony’s attorney said, “There is an offer” from the district attorney’s office for a plea deal, which Moore rejected until Anthony undergoes his scheduled mental competency exams. Those exams — one by a Madison County Mental Health Department expert and one by a private expert — are scheduled on Jan. 14 and 28, respectively.

Mascari told the Cazenovia Republican the plea deal that was offered was the maximum jail time allowed on the criminal nuisance charge while still giving Anthony the maximum probation time allowed during which he can be monitored.

“In general, we want to plead appropriately and give consequences. We want at least an attempt at treatment and monitoring. We don’t want [the crime] to happen again,” Mascari said.

As for why a plea deal was offered before Anthony had undergone his mental competency exams, Mascari said the exams were ordered by the judge merely as a precautionary measure. “I don’t think mental competency [applies in this case],” he said.

Moore said during court that the orders of protection against Anthony by four of the alleged stalking victims remain in force, and asked Anthony if he understood that. “As far as you’re concerned, stay away from all these people,” Moore said.

Sonn said there was an issue with the orders of protection in that Anthony does not know the four women and would not recognize them if he saw them. Moore said that was Anthony’s problem, not the women’s problem. “It’s just more women for you to stay away from,” Moore said.

Moore warned Anthony not to miss his two mental competency exam appointments in January, adding, “and be careful of your conduct … You’re on a very short leash, Mr. Anthony.”

Moore adjourned Anthony’s case until March 5, 2014.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].