An Elmira man was arrested on perjury charges after allegedly providing false information as a witness to both police and a grand jury.
According to Chemung County Sheriff William Schrom, last November deputies responded to a home on Allen Street in Elmira for a reported armed robbery. 20 year old Esmond J. McComis was identified as a witness on the scene. McComis allegedly provided a written statement and later testified to a grand jury that he witnessed a suspect brandish a handgun and take $1,000 cash from a woman who was McComis’s girlfriend at the time. This testimony led to the suspect being arrested and remanded to the Chemung County Jail.
However further investigation revealed that McComis lied about the armed robbery. As a result, a Superior Court warrant for 1st Degree Perjury was issued for McComis’s arrest. On Friday, McComis turned himself in to the Chemung County Court where he was arraigned and released on his own recognizance due to a pre-arranged agreement. He was then ordered to respond to the Sheriff’s Office for fingerprinting and photographs.