ALBANY — A Hillsdale man will spend the next 8 1/2 years in prison for his role in two robberies at Colonie Center, Albany County District Attorney David Soares said Thursday.
Tyler Meltz, 28, was sentenced as a predicate felon by Judge William T. Little in Albany County Court on Wednesday.
Meltz previously pleaded guilty on March 9 to one count of first-degree attempted robbery, a class C violent felony, and one count of second-degree attempted robbery, a class D violent felony, Soares said.
The initial indictment accused Meltz on June 13, 2021, of threatening an asset protection officer with a knife to forcibly steal hundreds of dollars in store merchandise from the Colonie Center Macy’s, Soares said.
While the indictment for the 2021 charge was pending, Meltz was free on bail.
On Jan. 27, Meltz stole a vehicle from the area of 406 Albany-Shaker Road, and on the same day, committed an armed robbery at the Macy’s in Colonie Center, Soares said.
After fleeing the store, Meltz led Colonie police on a chase. Meltz crashed the stolen vehicle through an Albany International Airport barrier, drove on a runway and then fled the airport, abandoning the vehicle in the area of 421 Old Niskayuna Road, before he was detained by Colonie police, Soares said.
Meltz was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison following a guilty plea to first-degree attempted robbery, with a consecutive sentence of 3 years for his guilty plea to second-degree attempted robbery.
The plea fully satisfies the initial indictment, which also included one count of second-degree grand larceny, third-degree grand larceny and first-degree reckless endangerment, Soares said.
In addition to the prison sentence, Meltz was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution to the owner of the stolen vehicle.
Meltz faces additional charges in three other counties. When he was apprehended in January, there were three active warrants for his arrest from the Rotterdam Police Department, Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the Greenport Police Department, authorities said.
Meltz was charged in May of 2021 with robbing a Key Bank branch in the town of Ulster. Meltz and a woman from Montgomery County were charged with robbery and grand larceny.
In July, Meltz was charged by Columbia County sheriff’s deputies with second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon for cutting a person’s hand with a pocket knife in Greenport.
Meltz has already served time in prison.
On May 2, 2019, Meltz was released from Washington Correctional Facility in Comstock after serving 6 months in prison following a conviction on reckless endangerment charges in Columbia County Court, according to state records.
On Oct. 22, 2018, Columbia County Judge Richard M. Koweek sentenced Meltz to 1 to 3 years in prison.
The charge stems from an incident on Jan. 2, 2018, when Meltz fired a shotgun at police when they responded to his home on Route 22 in Hillsdale for a domestic dispute. The standoff that followed lasted several hours and forced authorities to close a stretch of Route 22.