Rochester man pleads guilty in series of explosions near Falleson Road

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The Rochester man accused of setting off several explosions in the Falleson Road area pleaded guilty.

The Western District of New York Monday announced James A. Pane, 50, pleaded guilty to charges of threatening by mail to injure or intimidate and unlawfully damage and destroy property by means of an explosive.

Pane was arrested back in April for the explosions which happened between Jan. 20 and Feb. 2 of 2021.

On Jan. 23, 2021, prosecutors say Pane set off an explosion near homes on Leander Road and Falleson Road that caused a hole the size of a softball and burn marks in the siding of the house and damaged a window at one of the homes.

On Feb. 2, 2021, prosecutors say Pane set off another explosion near a Falleson Road home.

Prosecutors say Pane also Pane mailed 10 letters to 10 separate addresses in the areas of Falleson Road and Leander Road between Feb. 24, 2021, and March 9, 2021. Each letter said, “I don’t mean to bother you people in this neighborhood. But the little (expletive) crack head at *** Falleson owes me a lot of money for drugs. He is a liar and a thief. He burned down his father’s cottage in the 1000 island for the insurance money, which he was supposed to pay me off with. He didn’t. I will keep throwing bombs off in his yard until he pays. call the cops they won’t catch me.”

After Pane was arrested on April 8, 2021, he said that he had an ongoing dispute with someone he believed was spreading false rumors about him and that he threatened that person several times to stop spreading the rumors but when they did not stop, he made the explosive devices and started setting them off. He also told law enforcement he sent the letters in hopes that the neighbors would confront that person.

Pane is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24, 2022. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.