Will Cleveland | Democrat and Chronicle

Tina MacIntyre-Yee

SHAWN DOWD/@sdowdphoto/, SHAWN DOWD/@sdowdphoto/staff pho

Embattled Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio was suspended with pay effective immediately, the state Court of Appeals announced in a letter Wednesday.

Astacio was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted criminal purchase or disposal of a weapon, a class E felony, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

All seven judges on the state Court of Appeals affirmed the decision to suspend Astacio after the court was notified that she was charged with a felony. Astacio has the option to appeal the finding.

She was arrested at her home in Rochester and arraigned before Ontario County Court Judge William Kocher on Tuesday afternoon at the Monroe County Hall of Justice. Astacio was released on her own recognizance.

Astacio allegedly tried to purchase a shotgun at Dick's Sporting Goods in Henrietta on April 2. She is scheduled to appear in Henrietta Town Court at 5 p.m. May 3.

Astacio remains on probation for a drunken driving conviction and has not been hearing cases since her February 2016 arrest. The conditions of her probation, on which she was placed last summer after a series of violations of her original sentence, forbid her from “possessing a firearm, dangerous weapon, or noxious substance.”

She was elected to a 10-year term that runs through 2024.

Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said Astacio tried to buy a shotgun at Dick's Sporting Goods at The Mall at Greece Ridge before going to Henrietta.

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She was turned away by store employees at both stores, Baxter said. Astacio identified herself to a store employee with her state driver's license after she tried to purchase a Maverick 88 .12-gauge shotgun, according to the felony complaint.

Three employees at Dick's in Henrietta provided statements to deputies.

The assistant store manager at Dick's in Henrietta said in a supporting deposition that the manager "was made aware by the assistant store manager in our Greece location that Leticia Astacio was just in his store and he denied her from purchasing a shotgun."

She seemed "very distraught and upset," the assistant store manager said. The deposition continued, "She then told me that she didn't really want a gun but needed one. She then said she would pass any background check and asked what she had to do to get off the list. I then explained there is no list it is just our store policy that we reserve the right to deny gun sales."

Another store employee said Astacio had to "return to the Greece store in order to get the denial reversed."

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct, the body charged with investigating and potentially disciplining judges accused of misconduct, is scrutinizing her conviction and other actions by Astacio, including violations of her original post-conviction guidelines.