Court Briefs: Contractor Guilty of Tax Fraud, Windsor Man Sentenced for Threats

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Windsor Man Sentenced in Threat Case
 
A Windsor man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Springfield for making online threats and extortionate demands.
 
Michael Andrew Rodgers, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 15 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In November 2025, Rodgers pleaded guilty to one count of threatening interstate communications and one count of extortionate interstate communications. Rodgers was arrested and charged in September 2024.
 
On April 5, 2023, Rodgers posted a threat on the Google review page of a Springfield medical practice that stated: "They gonna get what's coming soon. […] Will be there in the morning to get them myself one way or another. Locked and loaded." Beneath this text, Rodgers included an image of a hand holding a gun.
 
On April 6, 2024, Rodgers submitted a threat through a fraud reporting website for the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General with the intent to extort Social Security disability benefits. 
 
Specifically, Rodgers stated: "I m gonna start taking what I need. By any means nessacary. […] GIVE ME MY MONEY OR IM GONNA START DROPPING PEOPLE.  YOULL NEVER FIND MY WEAPONS SO STOP LOOKING AND GIVE ME MY CHECK.  […]  NEXT TIME I SLICE SOMETHING OPEN. IT WONT BE ME. ITLL BE ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN ILL MERC A WHOLE SCHOOL AND NOT GIVE A F***. […] SO YOULL BE MY FIRST TARGET IF YOU KEEP REFUSING TO HELP ME."
 
Windsor, State and Springfield Police assisted federal authorities in the investigation. 
 
Cheshire Man Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud
 
The owner of a construction company doing business in Berkshire County pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Springfield to a multi-year income tax fraud scheme.
 
Dennis Condron, 76, of Cheshire, pleaded guilty to four counts of tax fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for May 19, 2026.
 
According to the charging document, over a three-year period, in addition to depositing customer payments to his company, D Condron Construction, Condron hid over half a million dollars in customer checks by cashing them and diverting them to his personal accounts.
 
When Condron had his taxes prepared, he did not tell his preparer about the checks he was cashing and diverting customer checks — resulting in his tax returns underreporting the gross receipts of the business by hundreds of thousands of dollars. As a result, Condron kept hundreds of thousands of dollars that he should have paid in federal and state income taxes.
 
Information provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts. 

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North Adams Library Friends Receive $25K Bequest From Late Paul Gaudreau

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Friends of the North Adams Public Library was gifted $25,000 by the late Paul Gaudreau. 
 
The Drury High graduate had great respect for the library and its service to the city, said his good friend Richard Taskin, and had entrusted him with the check before his death on Sunday at the age of 64
 
"He understands the importance of the library as a crown jewel of our city. And he loved this city and he loved this country," said Taskin, a library trustee. "He was in the National Guard. He was concerned about his city. He was concerned about his country. ...
 
"He read a newspaper every single day of his life and cared about public affairs."
 
Taskin presented the check to Friends President Bonnie Rennell on Thursday evening at the end of the trustees' meeting. 
 
Gaudreau was a youth sports coach, and had retired from Williams College. He had already donated CDs to the library and had enjoyed seeing Jeff Tweedy of Wilco perform at the library. Taskin said Gaudreau was one of the hardest working people he'd ever known and, his voice breaking, his fantasy baseball partner.  
 
He'd first passed the check to Chair Sarah Farnsworth, who gasped "oh my" when she read the amount. 
 
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