4 Accused Of Plot Against NY Muslim Community

GREECE, NY — A potential threat made by a student at an upstate school led to the arrest of three men and a teenage boy Monday. The four individuals have been accused of conspiring to use bombs and guns against an Islamic community.

Police in Greece, Monroe County, investigated the threat made at the Greece Odyssey Academy and arrested Vincent Vetromile, 19, Andrew Crysel, 18, Brian Colaneri, 20, and a 16-year-old boy, WHAM said.

They were all charged with three counts of first-degree criminal possession of a weapon and one count of fourth-degree conspiracy, felonies. The 16-year-old's name is being withheld, and he is being prosecuted as an adolescent offender.

Police authorities said the 16-year-old showed classmates in the high school's lunchroom a photo of someone on his phone who he said looked like a potential school shooter, the New York Times said.

That offhand remark alarmed his fellow students who reported the incident to school officials.

The resulting investigation, police said, found that the teen and the three other men had stockpiled 23 guns and three homemade bombs.

Authorities said the four were planning to target the Muslim enclave of Islamberg, which is in the Town of Tompkins, Delaware County, about 40 miles from Binghamton.

Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said people could have died had the lunchroom comment not been reported.

Phelan said the plot against Islamberg was in the works for about a month, but no specific date was determined for the attack.

The 16-year-old is being held on $1 million bail; the three men, on $50,000 bail or $100,000 bond, the Democrat & Chronicle said.

The New York Times said Islamberg was settled in the 1980s by African-American Muslims seeking a place to raise their children and practice their religion.

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