Rochester man allegedly made terroristic threats against County Executive Adam Bello, was found with weapons

ROCHESTER, N.Y. A Rochester man now in custody charged with making terroristic threats against Monroe County Executive Adam Bello.

Sheriff’s deputies have been investigating since December and a man is now in jail accused of making threats against Bello and county employees.

“They were originally starting to be directed towards the county executive’s office, and they were annoying,” said Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Michael Fowler. “They were a bit harassing. And over the month of December, they started to escalate.”

34-year-old Raymond Girard Jr. is in jail after deputies say he was under surveillance 24/7 for more than a week. Deputies say there is a lot to piece together with this investigation that took collaboration with multiple agencies.

“The calls became more frequent and they became more threatening,” Fowler said.

Girard Jr. is accused of making threatening calls to harm Bello and county employees if they didn’t make changes to the financial support that he got through Monroe County Department of Social Services.

“Specific threats of using a firearm directed towards the county executive were very direct,” Fowler said. “He made no attempt to conceal his identity and as I stated, multiple phone calls. I think we were well over 75 phone calls.”

Fowler says Girard Jr. popped on their radar in December.

“About the first week of January, things really started to escalate and it became clear that without any intervention, this was going to get much worse,” Fowler said. “So we made the decision to approach Mr. Girard at his home.”

That attempt was unsuccessful. Deputies proceeded with caution after learning Girard was facing firearms charges among others. At that time they made the decision to back off but continued to watch his home from a distance. After nine days, he finally came out and turned himself in.

“The high school is right behind his home there on Hudson. And we really needed to make sure that we didn’t cause a situation that endangered any of the kids at school or any of the staff members, any of the neighbors, anything like that.”

The criminal complaint (pictured below) says Girard was found a dagger and rifles, which he is not allowed to have due to a prior criminal conviction. It says investigators also found a stolen laptop.

“There are several issues in the history that may come into play,” Fowler said. “But at this point, I couldn’t speak to whether or not they had any cause or effect on this case. But there’s certainly that will that will come up over time. We have to obviously allow the court process to take place also.”

Girard Jr. is known to several police agencies. In October Girard was charged with grand larceny, petty larceny, and trespassing by the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office. He is scheduled to be back in city court Wednesday morning at 10:30 to appear with an attorney.

County Executive Adam Bello released the following statement on Tuesday:

“The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Rochester Police Department, Irondequoit Police Department, New York State Police and the Monroe County Department of Public Safety did a remarkable job protecting the public by taking a high risk individual off the street safely and without incident. We are beyond grateful for their professionalism and service to our community.”