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Cattaraugus County man accused of assaulting and kidnapping in domestic incident

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A Franklinville man has been arrested after being accused of assaulting, choking and kidnapping a woman in a domestic incident that was uncovered during a vehicle stop early Sunday, Cattaraugus County sheriff’s officials reported.

The investigation began after Seneca Nation marshals stopped to check on a vehicle parked on the side of Route 219 in the Town of Carrollton and found that the two occupants had been involved in a domestic incident.

The case was turned over to Cattaraugus County sheriff’s investigators, who determined that the man assaulted the woman in his vehicle in Olean before driving to the Town of Carrollton.

Dean E. Pepper, 39, was charged with assault, kidnapping, strangulation, coercion and aggravated unlicensed operation, according to police reports. Following his arraignment in Town of Allegany Court, Pepper was sent to the Cattaraugus County Jail on $25,000 bail.

Two arrested, drugs and guns seized in raid

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NIAGARA FALLS – Niagara Falls drug investigators and the city’s Emergency Response Team raided a home at 621 24th Street at 11 p.m. Monday and found narcotics and cocaine, as well as two 12-gauge shotguns and a 22-caliber rifle. Two of the guns were loaded.

Two residents of the house, Daniel L. Pelfrey, 37, and Anthony J. Pettitt, 29, were both charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and with possession with intent to sell.

Police found 5 grams of crack cocaine and additional powdered cocaine, as well various narcotics, including the painkiller Opana and the powdered form of Ecstasy, according to detectives.

Narcotics Detective Lt. Bryan DalPorto said the 24th Street home was a hot spot that they had been investigating for the past six months after getting complaints from neighbors.

“It is unusual,” DalPorto said of Monday’s seizure of the powdered Ecstasy. “We used to see a lot of it three or four years ago, but it hasn’t been around recently. Hopefully, this is not a trend.”

The investigation was led by Narcotics Detective Steven Reed.

Judge lifts stay on demolition at former Bethlehem Steel building

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The mayor of Lackawanna on Tuesday gave the owner of the former Bethlehem Steel Administration Building 10 days to begin tearing down the historic structure, after an Erie County Court judge earlier in the day lifted a temporary stay of demolition.

Mayor Geoffrey Szymanski said he wants the abandoned, structurally impaired building to come down after years of delays granted to Gateway Trade Center, the building’s owner, that have failed to produce a plan for reuse.

“The owners of that building have done nothing but stonewall a costly demolition. That is the bottom line. They don’t want to pay for it, but they have to, and now if they don’t they will be fined for contempt of court,” Szymanski said.

Joseph S. Loraiso, Gateway’s executive vice president, said the company would abide by the court’s decision by beginning to tear it down in about two weeks.

Loraiso said the company considered pursuing a detailed analysis of the building but decided against it because of the cost involved. There were discussions with the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and others interested in saving the building, he said, but in the end the cost of turning the building around proved too high.

“It’s unfortunate, but we are under a court order to start the [demolition] process, and that is what we are going to do,” Loraiso said.

Preservationists have urged that the three-story, Beaux Arts-style 1901 building – with its ornate facade of graceful columns and Corinthian pilasters, pediments and dormers – be preserved as an iconic building from the region’s industrial era.

A group of citizens from Lackawanna and Buffalo delivered a petition with about 600 signatures to Szymanski on Tuesday afternoon, hoping to buy time for the building by urging him to see the value of reusing a part of Lackawanna’s history rather than knocking it down.

“We hope that through pressure on the mayor, the city will back off and give the owner more time to consider all the options. We also hope we can collaborate with Gateway, which needs the city to back off so they don’t have to come up with the money immediately to demolish, and because citizens don’t want the demolition,” said Dana Saylor-Furman, the ad hoc group’s spokeswoman.

But Szymanski said his mind was made up.

“It’s time to move on. I think that building is a prime representation of this entire region. It used to be beautiful, it used to be full of work, and now it’s abandoned, unsafe, unused, unwanted and it’s time we got more progressive. Bring down that building, bring down the silos and bring down the grain elevators, and let’s get this city moving,” Szymanski said.

Told that the City of Buffalo was beginning to find new uses for its grain elevators, Szymanski answered, “That’s why Buffalo looks like it does.”

He also said he didn’t believe a building abandoned for about 30 years and without heat could come back, noting that two structural engineering reports cast doubt on the building’s future.

“That building has nothing but sentimental value,” Szymanski said.

Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case had given Gateway a 90-day stay of demolition on Aug. 23, to provide more time to explore alternatives to the wrecking ball. But in Case’s courtroom Tuesday, no alternatives were presented by the company’s lawyer, who also didn’t dispute the City of Lackawanna’s contention – rejected by preservationists – that the building was not salvageable.

Instead, the attorney for Gateway, a subsidiary of New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co. of New Enterprise, Pa., argued that demolition was costly and more time was needed. The city’s attorney argued that was not its concern.

Case said he had no alternative but to uphold the order of demolition since there was nothing legally improper about it.

email: msommer@buffnews.com

Girl, 2, shot in face in car outside Falls grocery

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A routine trip to the grocery store turned ugly in Niagara Falls on Tuesday afternoon, when a 2-year-old girl sitting in the front seat of a car with her father was struck by gunfire.

The girl – rushed to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center by her parents with what a family friend said was a gunshot wound to the face – was transferred to Women & Children’s Hospital, where she was in stable condition late Tuesday.

It remained unclear who the intended victim was in the shooting, and city police had no comment. But Leo Smith, a family friend, told The Buffalo News that the shooter must have targeted someone else.

“No one [intentionally] shoots a baby in the face,” he said.

The shooting occurred at about 1:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the Hometown Grocery, at 17th Street and Pierce Avenue. The girl’s mother, who friends identified as Sharonda Platt, had just gone into the store. The 2-year-old was in the front seat of the family vehicle with her father. Their names were unavailable.

“[Platt] had just come in when she heard several shots,” Hometown Grocery store manager Abdo Salleh told The News. “She ran out the door and was screaming, ‘My baby. My baby was shot.’ ”

Platt is a regular customer, Salleh said. He also said he turned security camera footage, which captured images of part of the shooting, over to city police.

City officers, along with several other police agencies and U.S. Border Patrol agents, were searching for a vehicle believed to have been involved in the shooting. It was described as a four-door silver Pontiac or Taurus, with tinted windows and a spoiler.

When Platt’s friend Aljandrina Cummings heard about the shooting, she went to Falls Memorial to be with Platt.

“This was really sad, just so sad,” she said. “... She said she’d seen her daughter shot, in the face – it was in the cheek.”

Cummings said she sat with her friend at Falls Memorial while the medical staff stabilized the little girl for transfer to the Buffalo hospital. She said Platt was devastated by the shooting of her 2-year-old, the youngest of three siblings.

“She’s scared, and she was just so out of it,” Cummings said. “I just told her the only thing that could help her though this was to pray. I stayed with her and prayed.”

Shaken neighborhood residents who gathered at the Hometown Grocery after the shooting were angered by escalating gun violence in the city.

“It’s getting worse,” said Maria Shaver, whose son, Gerald Cannon, 17, was shot and killed in the Falls seven years ago. Shaver said no one was charged in her son’s slaying.

“The people who already have gun charges are the ones doing this,” she said. “They are already back on the street. It is sad. I can just feel [what this little girl’s mother] is going through.”

Anyone with information is asked to call city police at 286-4547.



email: nfischer@buffnews.com

Buffalo teen charged in assault at ECC South

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A former Erie Community College South student has been accused of sexually abusing a female student in a stairwell at the school earlier this month.

Marquel T. Foster, 18, of the 600 block of LaSalle Avenue, was charged with sexual abuse, public lewdness, forcible touching and harassment of the woman after she had entered Building 3 at 12:40 p.m. Nov. 8, according to Hamburg police.

The woman was able to get away from Foster, who later admitted to police he grabbed her, authorities said. Foster’s case is now pending in Hamburg Town Court.

College officials Tuesday said Foster is no longer at the college and that the students had known each other.

Fire guts house in Dunkirk

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DUNKIRK – A raging fire gutted a house on King Street early this morning but no injuries were reported, Dunkirk fire officials said.

Shortly before 6 a.m., 911 dispatchers received multiple calls about a house on fire at 184 King. When firefighters pulled up to the scene they found the house fully engulfed in flames.

Concerned that there may have been people inside, firefighters conducted a limited search but found no one in the structure. They later learned that every one was out.

Off-duty firefighters were called in to help battle the blaze.

Fire investigators were still on scene late this morning to try to determine the cause of the fire.

Falls bomb maker placed on probation, headed for treatment

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LOCKPORT – Mentally ill bomb maker Thomas P. Jamieson, whose hobby of making Molotov cocktails caused his Niagara Falls neighborhood to be evacuated as police arrested him April 17, will undergo further mental health treatment during a period of interim probation, his attorney said Tuesday in Niagara County Court.

Assistant Public Defender Michael E. Benedict said Jamieson, 25, had been in the mental health unit of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for several weeks until his condition could be stabilized. Benedict said Jamieson is to be placed in the Buffalo Psychiatric Center for further treatment.

County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III placed Jamieson on six months of interim probation pending a final sentence for his guilty plea to a reduced charge of attempted third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Police seized more than a dozen bottles of flammable liquid wrapped in cloth with wicks on top when they entered Jamieson’s Falls Street home. Jamieson told officers making bombs was his hobby and he bought jet fuel and gunpowder as ingredients.

Lockport man pleads not guilty to 23 sex counts

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LOCKPORT – A Lockport man, accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl and hiding her in a closet as police looked for her, was arraigned on a 23-count indictment Tuesday in Niagara County Court.

Jarad R. Matsulavage, 19, of Robinson Road, pleaded not guilty to assorted counts of second-degree kidnapping, second-degree rape, second-degree criminal sexual act and disseminating indecent material to a minor.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth R. Donatello said the girl was found in the closet at about 4:30 a.m. Oct. 11, as police searched the apartment for about an hour in response to a tip that the girl, who had been reported as a missing person, might be there. Donatello said the girl was not forced to hide and the kidnapping charge, like the rape charge, stems only from her age.

The indecent material charge covers alleged text messages from Matsulavage to the girl, Donatello said. Matsulavage is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Two Lockport men plead guilty to drug felonies

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LOCKPORT – Two City of Lockport men pleaded guilty to drug felonies in separate cases Tuesday before Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III. Both face a maximum of 2½ years in prison when they are sentenced Jan. 15.

Jeffery R. Thomas, 48, of Webb Street, admitted to second-degree criminal possession of marijuana. Assistant District Attorney Peter M. Wydysh said the county Drug Task Force raided Thomas’ former home on Youngstown-Lockport Road in Porter Aug. 15 and found he had been growing marijuana outdoors. They seized 12.57 pounds of the drug.

Kurtis R. Washington, 22, of Cottage Street, pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. He sold crack cocaine to a police informant Dec. 5 on Elmwood Avenue in Lockport.

Washington already is serving a state prison sentence for another drug conviction, but he is due for release Jan. 24, Murphy said.

Buffalo man imprisoned in North Tonawanda crack case

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LOCKPORT – A Buffalo man who was caught with crack cocaine in North Tonawanda March 3 was sentenced Monday to a year in state prison.

However, Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas recommended that Kenneth Z. Jackson be assigned to the boot camp-like “shock incarceration” program, which could lead to parole in six months.

Jackson, 29, of Donaldson Road, had pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He threw away a bag of crack as North Tonawanda police chased him from Schenck Street to Bryant Street, Assistant District Attorney Peter M. Wydysh said.

Feds charge three with selling fake identification

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Three men were arrested Tuesday on federal charges of selling phony identification documents, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced.

Xavier Gonzalez, 26, and Mario Soto, 37, were arrested in the Buffalo area. Jorge Garcia, 36, was taken into custody in Texas and will be returned to Buffalo. Their cases are unrelated, Hochul said.

Gonzalez and Garcia were charged with selling more than five sets of identification documents to a federal informant. Soto was charged with selling a Social Security card.

Gonzalez and Soto appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and were released on bond.

Ceglia says Facebook attorneys intimidated his attorney off civil case

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The Facebook ownership suit took on yet another bizarre twist Tuesday, when allegations of threats and improper influence surfaced in the 2-year-old civil case.

Paul D. Ceglia, the Allegany County man who claims to own half of the social networking giant, maintains threats against one of his attorneys prompted the attorney to withdraw from the case.

Ceglia also says Facebook’s attorneys are behind the criminal charges brought against him by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

“I appreciate the fear for his own safety that he has and the threats that have been made against him,” he said in a telephone conference call with U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie G. Foschio. “Worse has happened to me.”

Facebook’s attorneys, who were part of the same conference call, denied any suggestion that they influenced the U.S. attorney in Manhattan or his criminal prosecution of Ceglia.

They also say Ceglia’s allegations of threats against Dean Boland, one of his attorneys, are untrue.

“We have reason to believe those representations to the court are overstated, exaggerated or worse,” Orin Snyder, one of Facebook’s defense attorneys, told Foschio.

Ceglia’s allegations came during a conference over Boland’s desire to withdraw from the case and a confidential letter he sent to Foschio outlining the reasons why.

Boland, who is at least the fifth lawyer to drop Ceglia as a client, would not comment on those reasons Tuesday, and Ceglia stopped short of elaborating on what threats he says were made against Boland or who made them.

Boland’s request to withdraw from the high-profile case came just four days after federal prosecutors charged Ceglia, a Wellsville resident, with fraud in connection with his ownership suit.

In a recent letter to the court, Paul A. Argentieri, Ceglia’s other attorney, said Facebook was “instrumental in the initiation of the criminal proceedings against my client as a tool to gain an advantage in these civil proceedings.”

He repeated those assertions Tuesday and said Facebook’s attorneys have a personal relationship with the federal prosecutors handling the criminal case.

“Those charges were the decision of the United States Department of Justice,” Snyder said in response.

Facebook’s attorneys have asked Foschio to make Boland’s letter public and, in the past, have described Ceglia’s legal representation as a “revolving door of lawyers” and proof that his suit is a hoax.

Ceglia’s suit – he’s seeking at least a 50 percent stake in Facebook – is based on his contention that he and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg signed a contract in 2003.

Facebook acknowledges Zuckerberg signed a contract with Ceglia while he was a student at Harvard University but contends it had nothing to do with Facebook.



email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com

Two charged in copper theft from vacant NFTA building

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Two Clarence men have been charged in the theft of copper wire and pipes from a vacant Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority building in Cheektowaga on Thanksgiving Day, the authority reported Wednesday.

William H. Bartlebaugh Jr., 23, and David D. Cummings, 41, were arrested on multiple charges, including felony counts of burglary and grand larceny.

Three additional suspects remain at large.

Bartlebaugh and Cummings were caught early last Thursday in a building scheduled for demolition, according to C. Douglas Hartmayer, an NFTA spokesman.

That site, at 195 Holtz Drive, is part of a parking lot expansion project at Buffalo Niagara International Airport that will add 1,000 parking spaces to the Long Term B Lot on Holtz.

NFTA Police Lt. John Heritage and Officers David Jaworek, Mario Capozzi, Louis Loubert, Charles Loubert, Michael Dau, Michael Bielanin and David Drozdiel, along with K-9 Officer Mark Martinelli, made the arrests. They were assisted by Erie County sheriff’s deputies and Cheektowaga police.

Following arraignment in Cheektowaga Town Court, Bartlebaugh and Cummings were sent to the Erie County Holding Center pending further court action.



email: jhabuda@buffnews.com

Woman in collision that killed baby had prior DWI arrest

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The woman charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated in a fatal crash that claimed the life of a 7-month old girl Tuesday morning was arrested on a DWI charge three years ago in Chautauqua County, records show.

Danielle N. Kellogg, 24, of Brant was pulled over by a Chautauqua County Sheriff’s deputy on Route 60 in the Town of Pomfret at about 4:19 a.m. Nov. 26, 2009, according to records obtained by The Buffalo News.

A deputy allegedly saw Kellogg crossed the center line and the fog line and stopped Kellogg.

The deputy smelled alcohol on her breath and noted that her eyes were red and watery. She failed several field sobriety tests and was charged with DWI. She was taken to the sheriff’s substation where her blood alcohol content level was measured at .12 percent. She was charged with DWI and DWI per se.

According to DMV records, Kellogg pleaded guilty in Town of Pomfret Court to driving while impaired in January 2010 and paid a $500 fine. She had a conditional license until May 17, 2010, when her full driving privileges were restored. Her license was valid at the time of Tuesday’s crash.

Kellogg was behind the wheel of a 2003 Ford Explorer SUV registered to a Fredonia man at about 9:05 a.m. Tuesday when she crossed over the center line of Southwestern Boulevard in Brant on the Seneca Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County Sheriff’s officials said.

Kellogg struck a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am driven by Denise Hine, 31, of Hamburg, who made an unsuccessful attempt to get out of the way of the oncoming vehicle, police said.

The crash occurred after Hine had just dropped off her 4-year-old daughter at school and was driving home with her other daughter, Baylee Marie Dion, who was strapped into her infant carrier seat.

The force of the impact split Hine’s Pontiac in two.

The baby was rushed to Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving where she died.

The mother was taken to Erie County Medical Center with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Sheriff’s officials obtained a court order to get a blood sample from Kellogg in order to determine her blood alcohol content level.

Kellogg was being held in the Erie County Holding Center in lieu of $20,000 in bail.

Her attorney declined to comment Wednesday.

email: mbecker@buffnews.com

Falls girl recovering from surgery following shooting

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NIAGARA FALLS – A 2-year-old girl caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting is recovering today in Women and Children’s Hospital as police continue to look for a shooter.

“I talked to [the child’s] grandmother and the child recovered from surgery last night and she is recuperating well,” Rev. Duane Thomas of Praise Temple in Niagara Falls said today.

The girl, identified as Jraeona Moore, is the daughter of Sharonda Platt.

Thomas, who is the family’s pastor, said Jraeona is expected to make a full recovery, but may have scars and may need further facial reconstruction surgery.

Thomas said Platt had stopped in the Hometown Grocery at 17th Street and Pierce Avenue on Tuesday afternoon to pick some things up when the shooting occurred in the store’s parking lot.

“She had a [male] friend in the car with her and I guess some guys pulled up on the car and started shooting at the car," Thomas said. He said the man was just a friend, not the child’s father.

“They opened fire while [Platt] was in the store and he was telling them, ‘Stop. Stop. There’s a baby in the car,’ and they just kept shooting,” Thomas said.

The man, who appears to have been the likely target of the shooters, has not been identified by police or the family, but was interviewed by police late Tuesday night.

“We believe that someone had complications with the male, but we really don’t know why,” Thomas said of the shooting. “They weren’t shooting at [Platt].”

Capt. William M. Thomson, chief of detectives, said the man in the car fled after dropping Platt and the girl at the hospital, but was later found for questioning.

“He wasn’t much help,” Thomson said.

Thomson said the man was in the driver’s seat and the baby was in the back seat.

He said Platt heard the shots and ran back to the car to find her baby had been shot in the face. Police found multiple bullet holes in the car, but the caliber of the gun used is not known, Thomson said.

Thomas said there was a lot of chaos Tuesday night at the hospital.

“[Sharonda] is really very upset. There is some speculation on who the shooter is, but basically the family just wants whoever it is to come forward. You were shooting at someone and you shot a baby in the face and now you really [have] got to pay for that," Thomas said.

Thomas said his church plans to organize fundraisers to help the family.

He said his church also is trying to address gun violence.

“We are actually putting a program together to try to combat things like this, a prevention program. Niagara Falls – we can change. All [the current programs] are just numbers for grant money, but we actually need to go out there and hit the streets with things like a gun buyback program," Thomas said.

Police continue to search for the shooter and for a four-door silver American-made car, likely a Pontiac or Taurus, with tinted windows and a rear spoiler.

Anyone with information should contact Niagara Falls police at 286-4711.

email: nfischer@buffnews.com

Six guns reported stolen from Cambria home

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CAMBRIA – A 73-year-old man told Niagara County sheriff’s deputies that six guns, valued at more than $1,500 were stolen from a gun cabinet in his home in the 3700 block of Ridge Road.

The victim said that sometime between Nov. 16 and 26, someone entered his home and took a number of long guns from his gun cabinet, breaking the cabinet to gain entry. He said he has suspicions about one person who is aware of the cabinet and knows where the spare key is hidden.

Stolen were four various shotguns, as well as a Ruger and a Savage. Total loss and damage were put at $1,775.

Emergency doctor arrested on federal drug charge

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A Youngstown doctor faces a federal misdemeanor drug charge after his arrest by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force.

Dr. Daniel Gillick, 62, appeared in federal court this afternoon in connection with his arrest late Tuesday night after he allegedly attempted to purchase crack cocaine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch identified him as a doctor who specializes in emergency services and who has worked in at least two hospital emergency rooms.

Prosecutors charged Gillick and a woman who has been living with him, Christine Guilfoyle, 27, with misdemeanor possession of powdered and crack cocaine.

The two were living in a disheveled-looking home on Main Street in Youngstown that was littered with drug paraphernalia, according to police.

Federal agents investigated the case “as quickly as possible” after learning about 10 days ago that Gillick was involved in buying and using illegal drugs, said Dale M. Kasprzyk, resident agent in charge of the Buffalo DEA office.

“We went right to the U.S. attorney and moved as quickly as possible. We had concerns about having a doctor who was a drug abuser working in emergency rooms, and possibly making bad decisions that could affect the public safety,” Kasprzyk said. “We also did not want such a doctor working in a hospital where drugs would be available, and did not want such a doctor writing prescriptions for people.”

When agents arrested him, Gillick turned in his DEA drug prescription license, which means he can no longer legally prescribe controlled substances, Lynch said during today’s court appearance.

Gillick told Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott that he makes “good money ... $90 to $100 an hour” working for a company that provides doctors for duty in hospital emergency rooms.

According to court papers, Gillick recently has worked at Medina Memorial Hospital in Medina, and at Schuyler Hospital in Montour Falls, which is in Schuyler County near Watkins Glen. An administrator at the Medina hospital told The Buffalo News Gillick does not work there, and officials at the Schuyler Hospital could not immediately be reached for comment.

Gillick is the third local doctor arrested in the past two years after DEA investigations into illegal dealings with narcotics or prescriptions for painkiller drugs.

Buffalo FBI agents also assisted on the case.

email: dherbeck@buffnews.com

Buffalo man held in Amherst store burglary

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A Buffalo man was ordered jailed by Amherst Town Justice Mark Farrell following his arrest Wednesday for burglarizing the D&B Liquors store on Niagara Falls Boulevard in the town’s Willow Ridge section.

Terrance Morath, 30, of Lisbon Avenue, was taken into custody at his home by Detective Robert Cunningham and charged with felony burglary and petit larceny for allegedly stealing the store’s cashbox after the store had closed. He is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Amherst man accused of selling counterfeit sports caps

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TOWN OF NIAGARA – An Amherst man was arrested by Niagara County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday for selling alleged counterfeit sports caps like those made by New Era and other manufacturers at the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls, Sheriff James R. Voutour said

Weiliang Chen, 31, originally from White Plains, was taken into custody at the outlet mall, 1900 Military Road, in this township about 1 p.m. He is charged with a felony count of trademark counterfeiting in the second-degree, which carries a possible prison term of up to four years.

The sheriff said his agencies and the Town of Niagara Police Department conducted a joint investigation and seized more than 200 counterfeit caps with a retail value of more than $6,000 as Chen was arrested. He faces further proceedings in the Town of Niagara Court, where he was arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

North Tonawanda murder case moves to county level

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Brian C. Lowry appeared in North Tonawanda City Court today on charges of second-degree murder . He waived his right to a felony hearing and the case will be moved to Niagara County Court.

Lowry, 32, of Ypsilanti, Mich., will continue to be held without bail in the County Jail while his court case continues. He is accused in the death of 34-year-old Heather M. Rylowicz, whose body was found near her Lincoln Avenue home Nov. 21. Police said Lowry was an acquaintance of Rylowicz and that the woman died from a combination of blunt- and sharp-force trauma to the head and neck.

Police had been looking for Rylowicz’s car, but learned Tuesday that the green 2008 Ford Taurus station wagon was impounded prior to her death by another acquaintance of Lowry’s, who was arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge in Buffalo.

“The two cases are not related,” said Capt. William Hall, chief of detectives, who did not name the charged motorist. “He doesn’t have any involvement,” Hall said.

North Tonawanda police investigators plan to process the vehicle for possible evidence in the murder case.
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