Corrections Officer Arrested For Lying About Fireworks

Earlier this week I read a crazy story about firecrackers being thrown into the home of an employee of the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. When I read it, I was thinking, this is a crazy story. It just didn’t sound right to me. Apparently it didn’t sound reasonable to the authorities either.

According to News 10, last week on Saturday night, 30-year-old Correctional Officer Ryan Lawson reported to the Sheriff’s Department that someone had thrown a lit firecracker into his home causing damage to an area rug. Lawson also stated that he and his family were able to extinguish the firecracker with a pillow.

In my mind I'm thinking, why would someone target this employee? Was it work-related? He’s a correctional officer, was it a vendetta? Why, why would someone do such a potentially dangerous thing?

This story just didn’t pass the smell test with the Albany Sheriff’s Department either. Yesterday Sheriff Craig Apple announced that his office investigated the incident and determined that the incident was not true. Sheriff Apple said that Correctional Officer Ryan Lawson had been arrested and charged with making a false report. There was a lit firecracker inside Lawson's home, but someone inside the home lit the firecracker. The whole story about someone opening the door and throwing it inside was a lie.

Ryan Lawson has been charged with one third-degree count of falsely reporting an incident. Lawson must report to the New Scotland Town Court, but a court date has not been set yet.

Sheriff Apple never explained why Lawson made the report, but now the correctional officer must appear in court as a defendant. This is strange at the least it sounds like this correctional officer is trying to protect the actual person who lit the firework in the house.