GOSHEN – A Port Jervis man was convicted Thursday in Orange County
Court in the murder of Port Jervis shop owner Josef Kucher. Dennis McBee,
30, was also found guilty of assault, robbery and tampering with physical
evidence in the death of the 77-year-old shopkeeper.
Prosecutors argued that McBee savagely beat the victim, and stole money
from the cash register. McBee also tried to conceal bloody pants and boots,
which he knew constituted evidence of his having stomped on Kucher.
Following the murder, McBee fled to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where
he was apprehended.
Kucher had been a Port Jervis shoemaker for 40 years and was the owner
of Kucher’s Shoe Repair and Orthopedic on Front Street where the
attack took place. He was an Austrian immigrant, military veteran, and
a prominent figure in the Port Jervis community.
“Mr. Kucher was known to all in Port Jervis,” said District
Attorney David Hoovler. “He was an old world craftsman who did things
the right way, for the right reasons, every day of his life.” The
DA said he was “somebody all of us could look to as an example in
hard work, family and community.”
Hoovler said he will seek the maximum sentence under the law when McBee
is sentenced.
