A Waterloo man is facing two misdemeanor charges after deputies say he approached another person with a small ax and a wooden stick, then physically resisted officers trying to take him into custody. Scott Main was arrested in the Town of Waterloo on October 9, authorities said, accused of putting a victim in fear of serious injury before the confrontation escalated with responding deputies.
According to the Fingerlakes1.com report on the incident, Main was charged with third-degree menacing and second-degree obstructing governmental administration. The Seneca County Sheriff's Office identified Main as the suspect and said deputies arrested him in the town after he allegedly approached another person with the ax and stick, causing that person to fear serious injury. Deputies said Main then physically resisted their efforts to detain him.
The Seneca County Sheriff's Office logged the case under complaint number CR# 26SH20278, recording that deputies apprehended Main at approximately 9:20 p.m. that night. He was taken to the Seneca County Correctional Facility for arraignment, per the sheriff's office.
How the Charges Break Down Under State Law
Law enforcement's press summary describes both charges against Main as Class A misdemeanors, but that characterization doesn't fully match how New York's penal code classifies the offenses. Third-degree menacing under Penal Law § 120.15 is actually a Class B misdemeanor, carrying a maximum sentence of 90 days in local jail, and requires proof that a person intentionally placed someone in fear of death or imminent physical injury through physical menace, according to Tilem & Associates.
Second-degree obstructing governmental administration, by contrast, is a true Class A misdemeanor under Penal Law § 195.05, punishable by up to a year in jail, probation, or a conditional discharge, per the Fast Law Firm, P.C. That distinction means the obstruction count tied to Main's alleged resistance toward deputies carries the more serious maximum penalty of the two.
Arraignment Process in Seneca County
Defendants arrested by county deputies in Seneca County, including Main, are typically held for arraignment at the Centralized Arraignment Part Court located at the Seneca County Law Enforcement Center in Romulus, according to Finger Lakes Daily News. Main was booked into the Seneca County Correctional Facility, a 118-bed jail that Hoodline has previously reported houses pre-arraignment and pre-trial detainees for every police agency operating in the county.
The arrest adds to a string of recent law enforcement activity in Waterloo. Just two days later, on October 11, sheriff's deputies arrested a Rochester resident in the town on a charge of driving while ability impaired by drugs, according to the Seneca County Sheriff's Office. Hoodline also reported this month on a separate Waterloo case involving a 34-year-old Seneca Falls man accused of choking a victim in front of two children, and on a fatal Waterloo crash that killed a 31-year-old Wayne County woman when her car burst into flames.
A Rural Town With Low Violent Crime Rates
The Town of Waterloo sits on the western border of Seneca County between Geneva and Seneca Falls, with a population of 7,378 recorded at the 2020 U.S. Census, per Wikipedia. Crime reporting data from NeighborhoodScout puts Waterloo's annual violent crime rate at 0.85 per 1,000 residents, well below both the New York state average of 3.8 and the national median of 4.0.
The sheriff's office, led by Sheriff Tim Thompson and headquartered at 6150 Route 96 in Romulus, has faced its own internal pressures this year. In August, the Seneca County Sheriff's PBA publicly criticized county officials for denying requests to fill budgeted positions for an investigator and two deputy sheriffs, Finger Lakes Daily News reported, raising questions about staffing levels even as deputies continue to handle both traffic stops and criminal complaints across the town.
