Area contractor arrested in connection to employee death

NORTHVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) - The Northville Village police have arrested an area construction contractor in connection with the death of one of his employees.

The village police say they were called out to a location about a man bleeding from his head who was in and out of consciousness back in May.

“It was reported initially to us by Mr. Wiedemann that the male victim had fell at The Batchellerville Bridge and struck his head,” said Chief of Police Richard Richardson.

Jeremiah Wiedemann, owner of Wiedemann Sons, told police his worker 38-year-old James Warner fell. But police say he lied.

“We went over to the bridge, we looked, we didn't find any evidence of any type of scene where somebody had fell,” said Richardson. “We found out that it didn't actually happen there.”

They say they found Wiedemann and Warner miles away.

“Long story short, we ended up at the spillway on South Main Street right here in the village Northville,” said Richardson.

Police say their investigation led them to a location on Sinclair Road were Wiedemann was working on replacing a roof and that is where Warner fell.

NEWS10 ran into Mr. Wiedemann at that location, where his company was still replacing the roof.

He declined to comment and said to reach out to his lawyer, Michael Viscosi. Mr. Viscosi has yet to respond to our calls and emails. Police are still investigating the cause of James Warner’s death.

Warner’s wife, Jennifer Warner, says James is a family man and leaves behind four children. She says James was working for Wiedemann off and on over the past five years.

“James considered Wiedemann and his crew his family and friends,” said Warner.

The contractor has been charged with two felonies. One for tampering with physical evidence and another for failure to provide worker’s compensation insurance. He is also facing a misdemeanor for falsely reporting an incident.

“Justice will never be served period because the only justice there could be is from my kids to have their dad,” said Warner.