HUDSON—Barry Goldstein, 77, recently convicted and sentenced to time in state prison, died in the Coxsackie Correctional Facility, a maximum security state prison in Greene County, December 25 at 5:13 p.m.
Mr. Goldstein was incarcerated at the Coxsackie Regional Medical Unit. The official cause of death will be determined and released by the Greene County Medical Examiner’s Office pursuant to County Law, according to an emailed statement from the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. State coroners and medical examiners determine the cause of death, according to the law, which “leaves it to coroners and medical examiners to determine if results will be released and to whom. All deaths in the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s facilities are reviewed by the State Commission of Correction.
Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka said by phone this week that Mr. Goldstein had recently been diagnosed with a “serious illness.” An obituary for Mr. Goldstein appears on page 17 of this issue.
Mr. Goldstein was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 6 to 18 years in state prison by Columbia County Judge Richard Koweek, December 22.
Mr. Goldstein hired a man to set fire to his home at 290 Route 25 in Stockport, October 1, 2017 for a $1 million insurance payout.
He was found guilty of first-degree insurance fraud, a class B felony and third-degree arson, a class C felony after a nine-day jury trial that concluded January 15.
DA Czajka, who prosecuted this case at trial with Assistant District Attorney Joyce Crawford, complimented her work as well as that of Columbia County Sheriff’s Investigators Reagan Anderson, Patrick Logue and K.C. Bauhoff; and New York State Fire Investigator John Fairclough, in a press release.
The DA reserved his greatest praise and gratitude for firefighters from Stuyvesant, Stuyvesant Falls, Stottville, West Ghent, Greenport, Claverack, Niverville, and Ghent who risked their lives fighting this massive fire.
Judge Koweek ordered Mr. Goldstein to pay $52,993 in restitution. Delmar-based attorney Roy Nestler represented the defendant.