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Authorities say they know who distributed white supremacist fliers

Monroe County Undersheriff Drew Forsythe, Brighton PD Chief Mark Henderson, Brighton Supervisor Bill Moehle and Pittsford Supervisor Bill Smith.
Randy Gorbman
/
WXXI News
Monroe County Undersheriff Drew Forsythe, Brighton PD Chief Mark Henderson, Brighton Supervisor Bill Moehle and Pittsford Supervisor Bill Smith.

Authorities have identified the man responsible for distributing fliers in Pittsford and Brighton promoting a white supremacist website.

But there are no criminal charges. The reason there are no charges is that after consulting with the Monroe County District Attorney and a publication put out by the NYS Attorney General, it was determined the fliers are political in nature and therefore protected by the first amendment.

An investigation led police to a 32 year old Rochester man who admitted distributing those fliers, but he told police he did not mean to alarm anyone or cause harm to the community. Police did not name him since he has not been charged.

One of the founders of a PittsFORWARD, which is a citizens group that sprang up in Pittsford to combat the message in those fliers, Kendra Evans, appreciates the police investigation but is upset with these fliers being called political.

“Whether you’re Republican or Democrat or independent, politics is about governing and working together, it is not about exclusion it is not about putting people down for the color of their skin or their gender or for any other reason that we marginalize each other.”

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department does not think the same person behind the fliers in Pittsford and Brighton was responsible for white supremacist fliers found around the St. John Fisher College campus recently. That case is still under investigation.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.