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Hit-and-run incident at Walmart injures three

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Police are searching for a driver who injured three people in a hit-and-run accident in the Walmart parking lot in Clarence late Friday night.

The incident occurred at 10:25 p.m., when a driver struck two pedestrians in the Walmart Supercenter parking lot at 5033 Transit Road, according to the Erie County Sheriff’s deputies.

As the driver left the scene, a third person attempted to stop the vehicle and was also injured, according to the report.

The first two pedestrians suffered minor injuries, but the third person was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.

No information was available regarding the severity of the victim’s injuries and no further information was available Saturday regarding how the accident occurred.

The vehicle was described as a purple Chevy Beretta or Pontiac Grand Prix. No license plate information is available. Police agencies attempted to locate the fleeing vehicle Friday night but were unsuccessful. The Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information to call the tip line at 858-7755.

Stabbed West Side man in critical condition

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A Buffalo-area man remained in critical condition Saturday after being repeatedly stabbed late Thursday night on the West Side.

Police found Saboor Hanif, 33, on the 500-block of Fargo Avenue, stabbed three times on the left side of his torso, according to the report. Before losing consciousness, he told police he was stabbed at the intersection of Fargo and School Street by two 14th Street residents named “Naheem” and “Jagar,” the report said.

He was taken to Erie County Medical Center for his injuries.

Police arrest man wanted in gas station hold-up

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Buffalo Police nabbed a North Buffalo man late Friday who was wanted in connection with the armed robbery of a convenience store back in April.

Terrance Hinkle, 21, of the 200-block of Commonwealth Avenue, was arrested at a traffic stop on Hertel Avenue late Friday night and was found to be in possession of four bags of marijuana, according to the police report.

Police said Hinkle is the same man suspected of holding up a store clerk at gunpoint at the Sunoco A-Plus gas station and convenience store at Hertel and Colvin avenues on April 26. In that incident, a robber took about $400 from the store clerk and fled, according to the report.

Hinkle is charged with first-degree armed robbery and misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Niagara County sheriff’s deputies log four DWI arrests

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ROYALTON – Niagara County sheriff’s deputies made four drunken-driving arrests from late Thursady through early Saturday, including an Akron woman whose blood-alcohol level was almost four times the legal limit, authorities said.

Kelly L. Bruning, 35, who was stopped on Akron Road just after 8 p.m. Thursday for a lane violation, said she had been “driving around drinking vodka” from a pair of water bottles, deputies said. She posted a blood-alcohol content of 0.28 percent, deputies said, and was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated and drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle on a highway and moving from a lane unsafely.

Other arrests follow:

• Robert D. Ott Jr., 41, of Schenck Street, North Tonawanda – stopped Friday night on River Road, Wheatfield, and charged with DWI, no seat belt and drinking alcohol in a vehicle.

• Heidi A. Meyer, 53, of Ward Road, Sanborn – stopped on Niagara Falls Boulevard in the Town of Niagara at 1:23 a.m. Friday and charge with driving while intoxicated.

• Kyle F. Laughlan, 22, of Niagara Falls, stopped early Friday on Niagara Road in Wheatfield after allegedly fleeing from a personal injury crash. He was charged with DWI, no insurance and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident.

Falls man accused of stealing pickup arrested in chase

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NIAGARA FALLS – Police said they charged a Niagara Avenue man with stealing a pickup Friday after he was spotted parking the vehicle and running off.

Rasaun L. Blackmon, 22, of Niagara Avenue, was apprehended after a short foot chase in the 4600 block of Hyde Park Boulevard about 5:30 p.m., according to police, who noted an officer suffered minor injuries in the chase.

Police said Blackmon, who tried to throw away the pickup keys as he fled, was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, first-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third-degree assault, fourth-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest.

Gang assault lands man, 18, in hospital

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NIAGARA FALLS – An 18-year-old man was beaten unconscious Friday afternoon in a gang assault near his Centre Avenue home, police said.

The victim was walking in the 1500 block of Centre Avenue about 3:30 p.m. when he was jumped by five men and a woman, police said. He was knocked to the ground and punched and kicked repeatedly in the head and body, police added.

The victim was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for treatment of head and facial injuries, police said.

HIV test, law likely to color Williams' trial

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Nushawn Williams, the Jamestown man who gained national notoriety when accused of spreading the virus that causes AIDS, remains behind bars more than 15 years after his criminal offenses in Chautauqua County.

But when a 20-year-old Buffalo man admitted in 2011 to having unprotected sex with four young women and a 15-year-old girl while knowing he was infected with HIV, he was sentenced to a year in jail for his crimes.

“It was similar enough to say, ‘My God, the treatment was so different,’ ” said John R. Nuchereno, defense attorney for Williams.

Williams, now 36, was supposed to be freed in 2010, upon completing a 12-year sentence for a statutory rape and reckless endangerment conviction.

Yet, three years later, he remains in Wende State Correctional Facility because the state attorney general contends Williams is a sexual predator likely to infect others with HIV.

The trial, while not open to the public, is expected to draw plenty of interest, both from civil liberties groups troubled by the state’s civil confinement policy and from various HIV and AIDS organizations intrigued by the potential legal impacts of the case.

Nuchereno already has made the stunning claim in a pretrial hearing that Williams does not have HIV, based on a recent electron microscope analysis of his blood by the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.

The contention appears likely to be a crux of Williams’ defense, which is being aided by the Office of Medical and Scientific Justice, a nonprofit organization based in Studio City, Calif.

The group runs the HIV Innocence Project and has used electron microscopy results in military trials to help defend soldiers accused of transmitting the virus to sexual partners.

G. Baron Coleman, an Alabama lawyer connected with the Office of Medical and Scientific Justice who has represented several soldiers, is expected to assist Nuchereno in at least a portion of his defense of Williams.

Lawyers from the Attorney General’s Office questioned the legitimacy of the electron microscope test and asked State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski to allow them to do their own analysis of Williams’ blood.

Rules of law prohibited Michalski from agreeing to the request.

But several medical professionals and HIV experts contacted by The News said the electron microscope was not an accepted method for finding HIV or for monitoring a patient infected with the virus.

“Electron microscopy is not, never has been and never will be an appropriate, relevant or approved way to detect HIV in the blood. Indeed, it’s beyond silly suggesting it could, would or should be used for this purpose,” said John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.Williams’ blood was analyzed in April by Gregory M. Hendricks, manager of the Core Electron Microscopy Facility at the UMass Medical School, who found “no evidence” of HIV, according to a letter he sent to the Office of Medical and Scientific Justice.

Dr. Joseph S. Cervia, clinical professor of medicine and pediatrics at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, noted that blood tests screening for the presence of HIV antibodies have been used reliably for years to determine whether someone has HIV.Seth Kalichman, an HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment researcher, expressed concern that the startling legal strategy in the Williams case will mislead people about accepted science with regard to diagnosing and treating HIV.

The Office of Medical and Scientific Justice and its executive director, Clark Baker, are HIV and AIDS denialists, Kalichman said.

And he said their efforts are potentially damaging to public health.

“They have no credibility. They’re not really scientists at all,” Kalichman said.

The organization has become adept at trying to manipulate juries in court-martial cases by raising suspicions about HIV tests and the influence of big pharmaceutical companies, he said.

And that’s potentially destructive, because some people who test HIV positive can’t deal with the reality and will seek out the misinformation put out by AIDS denialists as a source of comfort, said Kalichman.

“These guys provide them with a way out,” he said. “There have been people who have died because they listened to these people.”Baker, though, contends that the standard tests to detect HIV are unreliable and useless and that the electron microscope “is the only device that will see” the virus.

“If he’s infected with it, why wouldn’t it be there?” said Baker, who began examining Williams’ case in 2010.

Baker said he looked through hundreds of pages of Williams’ medical records and found no evidence of a proper HIV diagnosis.

“If you’re going to accuse somebody of being infected with HIV, you’d better have some evidence,” he said.

Authorities accused Williams of infecting at least 13 young Chautauqua County females, including a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old.

The case never went to trial, so the public didn’t get a close look at the criminal evidence against him.

Nuchereno said his client has been contacted over the years by numerous groups that “have offered assistance, including mainline HIV organizations because they see this as criminalization of a disease.”After completing his prison term for his admitted sex crimes, Williams now is subject to a law that was passed nearly eight years after he pleaded guilty with the understanding that he would be released from prison in no more than 12 years.

In effect, the plea deal has changed, even though Williams never consented to the changes.

“It’s really unforgiveable in 2013. This application of the law is informed by grossly outdated misunderstandings of HIV, and the state should really be ashamed about it,” said Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the Center for HIV Law & Policy in New York City.

Hanssens said we still don’t know “who infected who” in the Williams case, and the state’s civil confinement law makes it possible for anyone with HIV to be held indefinitely for infecting a sexual partner.

But Burstein maintained that the state has a case no matter what Williams’ HIV status may be because of Williams’ “known predatory behavior with young girls.”

“Regardless of whether he was positive or negative, that’s just unconscionable,” she said. “Developmentally, 13- and 15-year-olds don’t have the cognitive ability to understand what they’re consenting to.”

Thomas Shevory, who wrote a book chronicling the media spectacle around the case, said he has no idea whether the current legal strategy will persuade a jury.

But Shevory, who has kept in contact with Williams, is convinced Williams is not a threat and that he wants to get out of jail, get a job and be with his wife and four children in Virginia.

“At this point, for what he’s accused of, even if he’s guilty – which I’m not convinced of – 15 years is long enough,” said Shevory.

email: jtokasz@buffnews.com

Eggert Road man shot in leg in drive-by attack

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An Eggert Road man was hit in the leg during a drive-by shooting Saturday in the city’s Grider neighborhood.

Demetrius M. Holmes, 22, of Eggert Road, was taken to Erie County Medical Center, where he was treated and released, according to police. Holmes told police he was walking on Schuele Avenue, at the corner of Northland Avenue, at about 11:20 a.m. Saturday, when several shots were fired from a silver, newer-model Chevrolet Malibu, according to reports.

The bullet struck Holmes in the upper left thigh, police said.

Witness helps Orchard Park police nab burglary suspect

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With the help of a diligent witness, Orchard Park police Monday morning arrested a West Seneca man accused of burglarizing a house on California Road earlier in the day.

Police charged Adam E. Krytus, 25, of Thorndale Avenue, with burglary, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and other charges.

A witness told police that she saw the suspect leaving the victim’s home and followed his vehicle, later providing police with the license-plate number, vehicle description and location where some of the stolen property was thrown out the car window. Shortly before 11 a.m., Orchard Park police stopped Krytus on Bussendorfer Road, recovering some of the missing jewelry, the stolen car driven by the suspect and some crack cocaine, according to police reports.

Starter pistol confiscated from woman at Buffalo airport

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A starter pistol was confiscated from a woman Friday at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, one day after a Rochester man was stopped by Transportation Security Administration officers with a loaded handgun gun at the airport’s checkpoint.

When TSA officers saw what looked like an authentic handgun in the woman’s carry-on luggage at the checkpoint X-ray machine, they contacted Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police officers, who, like the previous day, responded and investigated.

The woman, who was headed to Phoenix, was permitted to catch her flight without the starter pistol. The incident had no impact on airport operations, TSA officials said.

The Rochester resident was charged with disorderly conduct and missed his flight to Orlando, though he was permitted to take a later flight, authorities said.

“Passengers are responsible for the contents of bags they bring to the security checkpoint, and TSA’s advice to passengers is to look through bags thoroughly before coming to the airport to make sure there are no illegal or prohibited items,” said Derek “Rick” DePietro, TSA’s federal security director for Buffalo. He added that travelers can be fined up to $11,000 if they are caught with prohibited items at the airport.

Passengers can review the prohibited items list on the TSA home page, www.tsa.gov, where they can download the free MyTSA application, which includes the information.

email: lmichel@buffnews.com

Justice refuses to throw out Hoskins’ animal-cruelty case

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The 74-count animal-cruelty case against Beth Lynne Hoskins will not be dismissed.

The Aurora town justice presiding over Hoskins’ animal-cruelty trial denied a motion to drop the case on the grounds that an alleged romantic relationship between a prosecutor and an SPCA investigator during the trial has compromised court proceedings.

Town Justice Douglas W. Marky did not accept the allegation of prosecutorial misconduct, which Hoskins said was caused by a relationship between Assistant District Attorney Matthew A. Albert, one of two prosecutors in the case, and SPCA employee Alex Cooke during part of the nonjury criminal trial he conducted.

The nearly packed courtroom heard back-and-forth arguments between the District Attorney’s Office and Hoskins’ attorney on this matter, John P. Bartolomei, for about an hour before Marky announced his decision.

Hoskins’ parents, Susan and John Hoskins; her brother, John Jr.; and her daughter, Alexandria, attended the hearing.

Albert sat silently at the prosecutor’s table, while Cooke, dressed in her SPCA uniform, sat with her parents a few rows behind him.

While Marky said the issue or appearance of impropriety is “certainly something we should all be concerned about,” he said that after reading cases and their correlating circumstances cited by Bartolomei, he did not see those cases “as being right on point” with Hoskins’ allegation. In some ways, though, they were “similar,” Marky said.

“I don’t see this relationship as being in some ways … a relationship that is out there for the public to know about – that the motion should be granted,” Marky said.

Prosecutor Nicholas Texido, who defended Albert and argued on behalf of the District Attorney’s Office, said in court that the relationship between Albert and Cooke ended in March, shortly after Bartolomei contacted the District Attorney’s Office.

Texido summed it up as a short, four-month relationship between a prosecutor and someone who was not a witness in the case.

The prosecutor said that there was no legal basis for the motion and that to say the relationship undermined the criminal-justice system was a “stretch.”

Afterward, Bartolomei said he will appeal Marky’s denial of the dismissal motion.

“Ms. Hoskins is entitled to have impartiality by the district attorney. That has been shaken,” he said. He also noted that five of Hoskins’ 30 horses are boarded at Cooke’s parents’ stables and that Hoskins pays the couple as part of bond requirements for horse care.

“Alex Cooke is an agent of the SPCA. The SPCA is the complainant” in the case, Bartolomei argued in court.

Hoskins was clearly disappointed by the judge’s ruling.

“I feel the motion to dismiss had a lot of merit,” she said outside the courtroom.“I feel the public’s confidence should be eroded by this.

Hoskins defended her care of her large herd; 40 horses have been returned to her. The SPCA Serving Erie County still is caring for 30 others, and Hoskins says three others died under the agency’s care.

Hoskins insisted that she did not commit any crimes involving her horses and called allegations of malnourishment involving her horses “absurd.”

Marky said he plans to issue a verdict by late June or before July 4 on the 74 misdemeanor counts stemming from the SPCA raid on Hoskins’ horse farm more than three years ago.

email: krobinson@buffnews.com

Catt County telephone scam warning

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LITTLE VALLEY -- Cattaraugus County residents today were warned about a telephone scam against the elderly by Sheriff Timothy S. Whitcomb. In the scam residents, who tend to be recalled four to five times with the same pitch periodically, are told by someone claiming to be from “Medical Alert System” that as elderly persons they have won a free alert system.

The pitch requires that they provide the caller with personal information, including personal identification, debit and credit card information, social security numbers, address information and more. “Unlike most scams where you usually receive one call and its stops, unique to this scam is its repeat nature,” the sheriff said. Whitcomb stressed that residents should never give out any personal information over the telephone and individuals receiving such calls should contact their local law enforcement agency or the sheriff’s office at 716-938-9191.

Crash victim charged with drunken driving after hitting a telephone pole in Gasport

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GASPORT – A Gasport man with a history of drunken driving was taken by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center after a crash early Monday and while in the hospital he was charged with felony driving while intoxicated.

Brian Rice, 37, of Rochester Road, was also charged with moving from a lane unsafely, violating the open container law, failure to keep right and not wearing a seatbelt. Rice, who was convicted of drunken driving in 2004, was charged with a felony for having a second drunken driving charge.

Rice’s vehicle was found by a passerby off the road in a ditch just before 2 a.m. in the 7900 block of Rochester Road, in front of Gasport Auto Sales, with the lights on and the engine running. Niagara County sheriff’s deputies found Rice unconscious behind the driver’s seat with a cut on his head, and blood on his seat and the steering wheel, which had been bent in the crash, according to Niagara County Sheriff Chief Deputy Steven Preisch.

“It looks like he went off the south side of the road and into a ditch and continued until he hit a telephone pole, then struck a culvert pipe,” Preisch said. He said several open containers of beer were also found in the vehicle.

Deputies at the scene said Rice first reported that someone else had been driving, but later recanted. No one else was found in the vehicle and a witness confirmed that he was alone, according to Preisch.

Due to his head injury and his confusion he was taken by Mercy Flight to ECMC. He was conscious at the hospital and was charged.

Homeless man arrested on forged check charge

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A 24-year-old homeless man was taken into custody at the Five Star Bank at 32233 Southwestern Boulevard by Orchard Park police about 1 p.m. Monday after he allegedly tried to cash a forged check for $3,375.

Geraldo Quinones-Velez was taken to the Erie County Holding Center in lieu of $5,000 bail, and he faces Orchard Park Town Court proceedings at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Orchard Park police charged him with criminal possession of a forged instrument and attempted grand larceny and have launched an investigation concerning other possible suspects involved in similar incidents locally in recent weeks.

Cheektowaga playground honors slain 5-year-old girl

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Five-year-old Isabella Tennant loved swinging on the swings and sliding down the slides at Stiglmeier Park in Cheektowaga. Always smiling and laughing, she didn’t mind that her favorite playground was actually designed for children ages 6 to 12.

Her father, Michael Tennant, took her there often – it was near their home on Como Park Boulevard. And though “Bella” will never play at the playground again, she will always be there in spirit, thanks to the efforts of her family and friends.

Next to the playground where Isabella played, another playground – specifically designed for children ages 5 and under – now stands, and a sign in front reads, “This playground was built in memory of Isabella Sara Tennant.”

Isabella was killed in Niagara Falls last August, allegedly by a family friend. Her body was found in a trash can a few blocks from her great-grandmother’s home, where she had been staying. After she was laid to rest, family members wanted to do something positive in her memory. So they held a fundraiser in September, raised $30,000 and approached the Town of Cheektowaga about building the playground.

“I want people to know how proud my family is that we’ve accomplished something in her memory that other children can enjoy, as Isabella would if she were still here,” said Debra Tennant, her aunt.

She works at LoVullo Associates for Dave Pietrowski, who helped the family with some of the logistics. Pietrowski said the playground was entirely privately funded.

At a dedication ceremony Tuesday, Michael Tennant unveiled the sign to a round of applause.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I’m glad that everybody came out and showed support. I know Isabella would be happy. And I’m glad that the kids are going to have somewhere to go in rememberance of her.”

But otherwise, Michael Tennant said, he is holding up “horribly.” He can’t even bring himself to closely follow the murder case.

“They keep me posted on it and everything,” he said of his family. “But Isabella was my whole world. This destroyed my whole world, my whole life.”

John Freeman, 17, of Niagara Falls, has been accused of killing Isabella with his bare hands. He is charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Falls police have said Freeman confessed on the morning after Isabella was killed. Freeman was a neighbor of Isabella’s great-grandmother, Sharon Lascelle, and a frequent guest in her home. When Lascelle went to bed on the night of Aug. 26, she reportedly asked Freeman to look after the little girl. The next morning, Freeman’s friend Tyler Best, 19, came to Police Headquarters after Isabella was reported missing and took officers to the trash can where her body had been dumped. Police think Best helped Freeman dispose of the body, and he has been charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Jury selection is to begin Aug. 19.

“We’re still on an emotional roller coaster,” Debra Tennant said. “I still can’t believe she’s gone. And I just hope that the judicial system does what they have to do.”

email: lhammill@buffnews.com

Batavia man pleads guilty to possessing child porn

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A Batavia man pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie G. Foschio to possessing child pornography.

Jeffrey Wawrzyniak, 41, admitted downloading child pornography to his personal computer in 2011 and collecting more than 700 child porn images.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell P. Ippolito said Wawrzyniak faces up to 10 years in prison.

Corfu man, 40, charged with DWI in Newstead

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A 40-year-old Corfu man was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges of drunken driving and traffic infractions on Main Street in the Town of Newstead.

William J. Johnson was stopped by Erie County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Kuhlmey at Main and Millgrove Road at about 4 p.m. after reports came in about a man driving recklessly through the town.

After Johnson gave a blood-alcohol breath test of 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit, he was charged with driving while intoxicated and traffic infractions.

After a third party arrived for him, he was allowed to leave the sheriff’s Alden substation but faces Newstead Town Court proceedings in two weeks.

Counterfeit sneaker defendant spared jail time

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Cortez Waters sold thousands of fake Nike sneakers.

Even more important, perhaps, he did it as part of a counterfeiting ring that stretched all the way to China.

The Buffalo man eventually admitted his leadership role in the conspiracy and became a key witness in the prosecution of 22 other defendants across the country.

On Wednesday, a federal judge rewarded Waters by sparing him prison time.

“He was the first defendant to plead guilty,” said Federal Public Defender Marianne Mariano. “And his cooperation led to the successful prosecution of all the other defendants, except one.”

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara agreed and sentenced Waters to four years of probation.

Waters’ sentence – he pleaded guilty in 2008 to trafficking in counterfeit goods – is one of the last chapters in a five-year-long prosecution that began when Niagara Falls police started noticing fake Nike sneakers popping up in several local stores.

Before long, the investigation took Falls police and federal agents to New York City and eventually China.

In 2007, they arrested 23 suspects and charged them with running a multi-million-dollar counterfeit sneaker ring.

Waters, one of the primary targets of the investigation, was arrested at his home in Buffalo and identified by police as the man “controlling the Buffalo-Niagara Falls counterfeit sneaker trade.”

It later became evident that he was one of the lead distributors in an international network that had its roots in a factory in China and a warehouse in New York City.

Arcara said the crime was serious enough to warrant sending Waters away. Waters faced up to six years in prison.

“This is a real problem," Arcara said of the counterfeiting industry. “It’s cost industry millions and millions of dollars.”

The judge changed his mind after learning more about Waters’ cooperation with the government. He also noted that the prosecutor in the case did not oppose a sentence of probation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Rogowski pointed to Waters’ criminal history and said it would have been easy for the government to ask for jail time.

“Quite frankly, judge, those occurred 20 years ago,” he said of Waters’ two prior convictions.

“It’s an unusual position for the government,” Arcara answered.

“It is, your honor,” Rogowski said.

The sneakers Waters bought and sold were often available at small mom-and-pop stores around the region, as well as street corners where people sold them out of their cars or trucks.

Not surprisingly, they sold for prices well below the normal retail cost for Nike sneakers.

e-mail: pfairbanks@buffnews.com

South Wales man killed in motorcycle crash

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A 28-year-old man was killed this morning when his motorcycle crashed on Route 400 in Elma, state police in Boston said.

Thomas R. Vogt, of South Wales, was traveling north on the 400 when he took the northbound Transit Road off ramp, lost control of the motorcycle and struck the guardrail, police said.

A motorist passing the scene at about 7:30 a.m. spotted the 2007 Honda motorcycle on its side and called 911.

State police and the Springville Fire Department responded. Vogt was transported to Mercy Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Anyone with more information about the crash should contact State Police in Boston at 941-9300.

Cheektowaga bank robbery suspect arrested

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A 44-year-old Broadway man was arrested by Cheektowaga police detectives Tuesday for the robbery at the M&T Bank branch at the Thruway Plaza just after 11 a.m. last Thursday.

Brian Wesolowski was charged with first-degree robbery and fourth-degree grand larceny when he was taken into custody Wednesday after an investigation headed by Detective Terrance Griffin.

Cheektowaga Town Justice Paul S. Piotrowski remanded Wesolowski to the Erie County Holding Center without bail pending further court proceedings.

Police said Wesolowski is accused of handing a teller a note stating that he had a gun and demanding all the money. Wesolowski did not display a gun but kept his hand behind his back and acted as if he were armed. Wesolowski was identified during the investigation and he made a statement to Detective Griffin, the officer said.
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