An upstate town judge who is under indictment for coercion and official misconduct was suspended with pay Thursday by the state Court of Appeals. The court took the action unanimously against Robert Alexander, a justice of the Pembroke Town Court in Genesee County, and invited the judge or his counsel to respond next month on whether the court should continue the suspension, with or without pay. On July 18, Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti ordered that all of the cases pending before Alexander be assigned to another Pembroke town justice and that he be given no new court matters.
Alexander was arraigned in July on two counts of coercion and one count of official misconduct, all Class A misdemeanors, as part of a probe that also involves whether his daughter, Brandi Watts, falsified her time sheets while working as clerk of the Corfu Village Court. An audit revealed false billings for more than $10,000 for time Watts did not work, according to the state comptroller's office.
