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Williamsville woman drives car into her living room

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A 92-year-old Williamsville woman crashed her car through the garage wall and into the living room of her Coventry Road home at about 2 p.m. Friday, Amherst police said.

Though furniture stopped the car from getting too far into the living room, the car’s wheels were still spinning when officers arrived at the scene.

The woman, who was not hurt, will be directed to submit to a state Department of Motor Vehicles’ driver review course.

Police said the woman confused her gas pedal and brake pedal.


Ross Avenue woman charged with child endangerment

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A Ross Avenue woman was charged with child endangerment and her children were turned over to grandparents after Buffalo police found her and her three sick children living in an apartment with no food and being heated by burners on the kitchen stove Thursday night.

Shakinna L. Johnson, 30, was charged after officers were called to her apartment in the second block of Ross to check on the welfare of her children. The children were alone with no telephone available to call for assistance when officers arrived, according to a police report.

Case of runaway sex suspect headed for jury

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LOCKPORT – A Niagara County Court jury will deliberate Monday on the fate of runaway sex crime defendant Paul S. Turley.

Testimony wrapped up Friday afternoon in the case of Turley, 47, of Lincoln Avenue, Dunkirk, who is accused of molesting two girls in North Tonawanda between August 1996 and June 1998, when they were between ages 5 and 7. One of the girls allegedly was molested one more time, on Christmas Day 2003.

Earlier Friday, Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas ordered the forfeiture of the $50,000 bail bond posted by Turley’s mother about a week after her son’s arrest Jan. 4, 2012.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth R. Donatello said Turley’s mother was asked to cooperate in the search for Turley and his wife, Diane. Turley left the County Courthouse in Lockport at Wednesday’s lunch break in his trial.

Donatello said the mother “would not help. She would not assist. It appears his mother has no fear of forfeiture.”

Defense attorney D. Daniel Stevanovic said he hasn’t heard from Turley since Wednesday. “He hasn’t checked in with me or his sister,” Stevanovic said. He did tell Farkas that Turley’s mother entered her son’s home and found paperwork on a table, but the couple’s dogs were gone.

Although Diane Turley also cannot be located, Stevanovic said, “There’s no evidence they’re together.”

Donatello said the prosecution did not present a police witness to discuss the manhunt for Turley, because his mug shot is in evidence. No announcement has been made to the jury about why Turley isn’t in court.

Turley is charged with first- and second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child and first-degree sexual abuse. He faces a maximum of 39 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

The second of the two alleged victims to take the stand testified Friday about her abuse by Turley. She said, “He would say if I told someone, they would take him away.” The woman, now 21 and married, told the jury that when she turned 18, Turley told her, “Thank you for not telling the police.” She didn’t report the abuse until November 2011, when she called North Tonawanda police. “We would wait until I was ready. It was my choice,” the woman said. “I had to protect other people.”



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

Two arrested for September holdup at Wheatfield store

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A North Tonawanda man was arrested Thursday along with a juvenile male in connection with the Sept. 3, 2012 armed robbery of a Wheatfield 7-Eleven store, Niagara County sheriff’s officials reported.

James Williamson, 24, and the juvenile were each charged with first-degree robbery for allegedly holding up the Plaza Drive store with an apparent handgun at about midnight. Taken during the heist were cigarettes, cash and a donation jar.

A joint investigation between sheriff’s officials and the Niagara Falls Police led to the information that culminated in the arrests.

Both were arraigned in Wheatfield Town Court pending future action in Niagara County Court.

Albion man and woman jailed in vicious early-morning assault

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ALBION – An Albion man and his female friend remained jailed Friday on charges in connection with a vicious attack on a 59-year-old West State Street man earlier in the day, Albion Police Chief Roland E. Nenni III said.

The victim initially was taken to Medina Memorial Hospital and then rushed to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of head injuries. His name is not being released until his next of kin can be notified.

Domingo E. Candelario, 22, of West Park Street, is being held in the Orleans County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail on second-degree assault charges in the incident, which happened about 1:35 a.m. Friday, Nenni said.

Maria Lape, 18, of King Street, was charged with criminal facilitation for allegedly assisting Candelario in the planned attack, the chief said.

When police arrived at the West State Street site of the attack, they found a Lape screaming over the victim as he lay on the ground. Candelario had fled but was tracked down to a Beaver Street home in the village.

Lape is also being held in the Orleans County Jail in lieu of $1000 bail. Candelario faces Albion Court proceedings at 5 p.m. Tuesday and Lape faces court proceedings there at 5 p.m. Feb. 12.

Snowmobile theft investigated in Chautauqua County

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MINA –The theft of a snowmobile with Ohio registration from behind the French Creek Tavern on French Creek Road in this township early Sunday afternoon remains under investigation by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department. Under the “We Tip” Program, rewards of up to $1,000 are available for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest and conviction.

The 2010 Yamaha Nitro RTX SE snowmobile was stolen sometime between noon and 3 p.m. Sunday while it was parked around other snowmobiles behind the tavern. The sheriff’s office is looking for anyone with information about the theft. All information called in at either 1-800-78-7463 or online at www.wetip.com would be kept confidential.

Man admits stealing $160,000 in father’s Social Security benefits

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A Buffalo man who stole more than $160,100 worth of Social Security benefits by failing to notify the federal agency of his father’s death admitted to theft of public money and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. reported.

Joseph Packer Jr., 62, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to the charge, Hochul reported Friday.

Packer withdrew and spent the money from a joint savings account he held with his father after the benefits were directly deposited into the account by the Social Security Administration.

Joseph Packer Sr., a 20-year general contractor for Laborer’s Local 91, died April 26, 2000 in Buffalo at the age of 90.

Packer Jr. is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8.

Man charged with assaulting woman in her Delaware Avenue home


Sex offender from Connecticut faces child porn charges

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A Selkirk Street man identified by Buffalo police as a registered sex offender in Connecticut has been charged with possession of obscene sexual performances after he was reportedly caught with child pornography on his laptop computer.

Daniel Cay, 25, was taken into custody at 7:15 p.m. Thursday. According to police documents, Cay has not registered with New York State authorities as a convicted sex offender and allegedly is in violation of his status as a registered sex offender in Connecticut.

Lockport man indicted on predatory sex charges

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LOCKPORT – A Lockport man was arraigned in Niagara County Court Friday on child sexual abuse charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life if he is convicted.

Juan Rivera-Stupia III, 31, whose last known address was on Oliver Street, pleaded not guilty to two counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, aggravated and regular first-degree sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth R. Donatello said Rivera-Stupia allegedly abused a girl under age 9 from April through December 2012, including one incident in which the girl was injured with a plastic object.

Donatello said Rivera-Stupia had a sexual misconduct conviction in Rochester in 1999, but he was granted youthful offender status, so he’s not a registered sex offender.

Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas accepted Donatello’s recommendation to increase Rivera-Stupia’s bail from $25,000 to $100,000.

Assistant Public Defender A. Joseph Catalano said it doesn’t matter what the bail is, because the unemployed Rivera-Stupia couldn’t make the lower amount anyway.

Farkas set a tentative trial date of June 17.

In another sex case before Farkas Friday, the court-appointed defense attorney for David J. Grover said plea negotiations are under way.

Grover, 34, of Niagara Falls Boulevard, Town of Tonawanda, is accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a 5-year-old North Tonawanda girl on July 28.

Grover turned down a plea offer in December, when he was represented by the public defender’s office. Assistant Public Defender Michele G. Bergevin had to withdraw from the case when she belatedly learned that Grover’s brother Kevin, whom she had once represented in a Family Court matter, had testified against David Grover before the grand jury.

The new attorney, David C. Douglas, had a lengthy meeting with Farkas and prosecutors Friday. Afterward, Farkas announced that the case was being adjourned until Feb. 14, which she said would be Grover’s last chance to plead guilty before going to trial March 18.

Douglas said, “Sentencing is the key issue we’re grappling with.” He said if Grover is dissatisfied with the sentence in a new plea offer, the case will go to trial.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

Hispanics United wants back two houses sold by its director

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Buffalo’s largest Hispanic organization has big plans for two big vacant houses it has owned for three years in a prominent Lower West Side location.

“We’re ready to do the rehab from top to bottom,” said Eugenio Russi, a board member for Hispanics United of Buffalo.

But the project has run into an unusual sticking point: The organization’s executive director last year signed a contract to sell the houses for a dollar.

So now the organization has sued in State Supreme Court to void that agreement, meaning a judge could decide who will own the houses.

The dispute, however, also reveals an agency on the cusp of a resurgence. Its new affiliation with a Bronx organization appears to have put it on firmer financial footing and made it better able to provide social services and housing initiatives to neighborhood residents and low-income clients.

Still, the man who would take the property for a dollar, Danny Duff, wants the organization to honor the contract.

Duff has dramatically improved his home, but he lives next to the boarded-up houses on Whitney Place. He focuses more on Hispanics United’s record the past three years than the hoped-for renaissance.

“They were going to fix it, going to fix it and going to fix it, but they never had money to do it,” Duff said.

Duff wants to renovate one of the houses and tear down the other.

Hispanics United received the property as a gift three years ago but has not done anything to repair the houses, and that prompted Duff to call city inspectors for housing code violations.

The roof is falling in at the house next to Duff’s yard, and debris falls into his in-ground swimming pool.

That house is “a total disaster” that would cost too much to repair, Duff said. He said it has not been lived in for the 12 years he has lived in his home.

Early last year, Hispanics United was in financial distress.

Lourdes Iglesias, the executive director, said she moved to unload the houses because the organization could not afford to renovate them or pay Housing Court fines. She said she did so with the support of her board.

She found Duff to be the right person to take the houses, given his success at renovating his home and another property he owns on the block. His brick home is assessed at three times the amount he paid for it in 1999.

“Mr. Duff is a great asset to our community,” Iglesias said. “He has taken care of his property and has a beautiful home. I wish all our neighbors were like this man. I was so impressed with him, and he was willing to take the property off our hands.”

She and Duff signed the purchase agreement last March. But several months later, the fortunes of Hispanics United brightened.

In August, it became an affiliate of the Acacia Network, a Bronx organization and the largest Latino nonprofit in the Northeast providing health and social services, housing and economic development programs.

Raul Russi, Acacia’s chief executive officer, grew up in Buffalo after moving to the city at age 11.

He was a Buffalo police officer for 15 years, former superintendent of the Erie County Holding Center and served as chairman of the state Board of Parole.

He was a founder and the first chairman of the Western New York Hispanic and Friends Civic Association and later served as a board member of Hispanics United.

Raul Russi is Eugenio Russi’s brother. Eugenio Russi now provides daily oversight at the organization’s Virginia Street offices, just a block from the property now in dispute.

Under the new structure, new board members joined three holdovers on the Hispanics United board. With Acacia’s backing, they see a re-energized future for the organization, Eugenio Russi said.

That future includes keeping the two houses at Whitney Place and Virginia Street.

“We stabilized the agency,” said Eugenio Russi, who retired last month as a regional director for the state Division of Parole. “We’re getting back to re-establishing our relationships with agencies that supported us in the past.”

And now Hispanics United wants to refurbish the two three-bedroom houses for transitional housing or for other services for domestic violence victims, the elderly or other disadvantaged members of the community.

“For us, it’s about the community,” he said. “We have enough houses that have been torn down.”

“We don’t want this to happen to our beloved Virginia Street,” Eugenio Russi said.

Raul Russi added, “The property still belongs to Hispanics United of Buffalo, and now it has the ability to renovate them and put them back into community use.”

Raul Russi said Iglesias faced funding challenges at the time she was trying to discard the property.

Before Hispanics United became an Acacia affiliate in August, there were “some serious concerns about whether HUB could continue to exist,” Raul Russi said.

After the restructuring and arrival of the new board, “We realized this agreement [with Duff] was in a partial phase,” he said. “There were issues with it.”

The lawsuit by Hispanics United alleges Iglesias signed the purchase agreement with Duff without advice of counsel or a legal review of the document.

The lawsuit also claims:

• An appraisal was not done. The assessed value of the property is $52,000, yet the agreement is for just one dollar, which “is not fair and reasonable.”

• The “purported contract” was not approved by an official vote of the organization’s board, nor did the board pass a resolution approving the sale.

• No board minutes reflect approval of the contract.

• The contract has not been reviewed by State Supreme Court or approved by the state attorney general, as required by state law.

“As a result of the purported contract, HUB’s interest in the property is threatened, and its ability to undertake its planned renovations to the property is impeded,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says the contract was signed by “HUB’s then-executive director.” Iglesias said she is on sick leave but remains the organization’s director.

“I’m not clear as to what is going on, honestly,” she said. “I feel awkward about it. The sad thing is none of the new leadership has reached out to call me.”

“Back last year, one of the things the board decided to do, and I agreed, was to basically sell that property because of the cost that was going to be incurred to fix them,” she said.

She said the previous board unanimously voted to approve the agreement.

The deal Duff signed would not be cheap for him. He agreed to pay the $4,000 in closing costs.

Tearing down one of the houses would cost him about $12,000, and he would have to refurbish the other house.

“Look at it. It’s not worth $52,000,” he said as he looked at the property from his backyard.

Duff said the dispute has discouraged him. He said he just wants to refurbish the house on top of the improvements he has made to homes in the neighborhood.

“Why am I the bad guy here?” he asked.



email: plakamp@buffnews.com

Lancaster man sentenced to five years for soliciting child pornography

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A Lancaster man was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of supervised release on his conviction on child pornography charges Friday.

Joseph Marranca Jr., 68, was accused of posting an ad on Craigslist seeking a teenager, after which he began engaging in online chats with a person whom he was led to believe was a 14-year-old girl but was actually an undercover police officer. During the conversation, Marranca requested pictures of the girl and made arrangements to meet her at a local park. He was promptly arrested when he showed up and met the undercover officer instead.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara Friday. The case, which was handled by U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti, was pursued as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative aimed at combatting child sexual exploitation and abuse that was launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2006.

Victim testifies at Garner trial

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A prostitute testified Friday that she agreed to have sex with Antoine J. Garner for $20 and willingly – but nervously – accompanied him into an abandoned house on Jewett Avenue on June 26, 2011.

The two had sex in the early morning hours, but when Garner wanted to move upstairs and continue without a condom, their encounter turned violent, the 44-year-old woman told an Erie County Court jury.

“I said, ‘No, you must be crazy,’ ” she recalled telling him. “I ... tried to make a run.”

Garner grabbed her from behind and prevented her from escaping, she said. “He pulled me out of my jacket and threw me in a corner,” she testified.

Garner – 6-foot, 4-inches and 387 pounds – lifted the 5-foot, 4-inch, 135-pound woman off the ground by placing his arm around her neck, she said.

She said she blacked out, with her last memory of what happened being Garner “just choking me.”

Her testimony came on the second day of Garner’s assault and strangulation trial before Erie County Judge Kenneth F. Case.

Garner, 26, is accused of choking and assaulting the prostitute. The trial has taken on a higher profile because Garner also is considered a “person of interest” by police in the unrelated but mysterious death of Amanda L. Wienckowski.

Four years ago, Wienckowski’s frozen body was found upside down in a garbage tote outside a church at Clinton and Spring streets on the city’s East Side, across the street from the home of Garner.

The Wienckowski family believes that the 20-year-old Kenmore woman was murdered and has tried to get the County Medical Examiner’s Office to revise the death certificate from an accidental drug overdose to a homicide.

Defense attorney Joseph A. Agro cross-examined the prostitute during Garner’s assault trial Friday.

She told Agro that she smoked crack cocaine at about 8 p.m., some seven hours before Garner picked her up in the early morning at Broadway and Mills Street, and drove her to the abandoned house on Jewett.

Later she told Agro, “I wasn’t high at all.”

In a snippet of videotaped police interrogation shown to jurors, Garner told detectives he had previously lived in the house a decade earlier, when his mother rented it.

Agro questioned her about how sure she was in selecting Garner’s photo from a photo array.

“I never forget a face,” she replied.

The defense lawyer peppered her with questions about her police statement in which she said Garner “was trying to bring me upstairs by my neck.”

How could she know that if she was unconscious, Agro asked.

“He must have heard me wrong or something,” she said of the detective who took her statement.

She said she woke up on her stomach with the defendant on top of her on the second floor.

“He said, ‘Turn around, [expletive], you’re going to learn the hard way,’ ” she testified.

She said he slid her pants off and then she tried to flee from the house, heading for a broken glass door to a second-floor porch.

“I tried to make a run through the glass [door],” she said. “I’m running for my life. He grabs me before I go through the [door]. He started choking me and beating me at the same time.”

The two fought as they moved from the upstairs bedroom to a hallway, she said.

“My life was at stake,” she said.

She said she got hit “with all kinds of stuff” and then she passed out again.

Garner then left the house, saying “I’m leaving, stay here,” she testified.

She staggered out of the house half-naked and collapsed on the steps of a nearby home, according to prosecutors. A neighbor called 911.

Detectives from the Buffalo Police Department’s Sex Offense Unit questioned Garner more than two months later after police learned a 2008 Ford Explorer registered to his fiancee was detected at Broadway and Sobieski Street, about three blocks from where the woman said Garner first picked her up, about the time she said they met.

A license plate reader on a police car scanned the SUV’s license plate among those of other cars during an officer’s patrol. The time, date and location of the image had been stored digitally and police later accessed it.



email: plakamp@buffnews.com

Vacant house heavily damaged in Niagara falls copper theft

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NIAGARA FALLS – Copper thieves caused an estimated $3,600 damage to a vacant 20th Street home recently while stealing copper worth $500, police said.

The thief or thieves broke through a boarded-up basement window to access the house within the past two weeks, then ripped out kitchen cabinets, bathroom closet and shower to get to the copper pipes, police said. A water meter also was stolen, police added.

Deputies kill pig badly injured in attack by pit bull

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LEWISTON – Authorities had to humanely kill a pig about 4 p.m. Friday after its leg was almost chewed off by a loose pit bull, Niagara County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies were summoned to the 2400 block of Ridge Road to investigate the report of a pit bull chasing two pigs. Deputies, who used a Taser on the dog, which ran to a kennel behind a house, killed the pig wshile awaiting the arrival of SPCA and animal control officials.

The dog and pig were owned by a town resident who told deputies the dog apparently got loose from a chain attached to a doghouse. The owner was not charged.

Pickup in ditch lands Lockport man in hot water

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PENDLETON – A Lockport man was arrested for driving while intoxicated after he was confronted on his telephone trying to make arrangements to be picked up from an crash scene Friday night, authorities said.

Niagara County sheriff’s deputies said a pickup operated by Jeffrey D. Wilson, 27, of Birchwood Drive, overturned in a ditch off Lockport Road near Comstock Road just after 8:30 p.m. Wilson, who posted a blood-alcohol reading of 0.19, also was charged with speeding and moving from a lane unsafely.

Falls man charged with aggravated DWI after crashing car into tree

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NIAGARA FALLS – Police said a city man was “staggering” drunk after he drove his car into a tree in the 1800 block of Whitney Avenue early Saturday.

Christopher S. Barber, 37, of Pierce Avenue, was stopped as he attempted to back his car away from the tree just after 2:30 a.m., police said.

Barber, who posted a a 0.18 blood-alcohol reading, was charged with a felony count of aggravated driving while intoxicated, speeding and aggravated unlicensed operation, police said.

Man killed in Buffalo workplace accident identified

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At the time, Hillyard was operating a forklift at Buffalo Sweeping Compounds, near Elk and Smith streets, authorities said. The company makes materials used in sweeping and polishing floors. The accident is being investigated.

Damage put at $200,000 in Akron house fire that killed three pets

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A two-alarm fire that heavily damaged a home in Akron shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday also claimed the lives of two cats and a dog.

The blaze caused nearly $200,000 damage to the 2½-story home at 52 Eckerson Ave., Amherst fire officials said.

Firefighters from the Akron Fire Company observed heavy fire at the rear corner of the house when they arrived at the scene, authorities said. Akron Fire Chief Daniel Kowalik sounded a second alarm, bringing extra crews from Newstead, Clarence Center and Clarence companies, fire officials said.

A smoke detector alerted an occupant to the fire, which is believed to have started in the laundry room and spread to the kitchen. The rest of the house received smoke, heat and water damage.

Damage was placed at $120,000 to the house nd $75,000 to contents, officials said.

From the blotter/Police calls and court cases, Jan. 23 to 29

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William A. Robinson, 51, of Phelps Street, Lockport, admitted in Niagara County Court that he stole copper pipes from a house on Grand Street in Lockport and sold the metal to get money to buy drugs.

Robinson admitted to third-degree burglary and was assigned by Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III to the judicial diversion program of court-supervised drug treatment.

If Robinson succeeds in the program, he will receive a misdemeanor and a probation sentence, but if not, he could spent as long as seven years in state prison.

The burglary occurred Nov. 26. Thirty pounds of copper was sold at Lock City Metals on West Avenue, Assistant District Attorney Claudette S. Caldwell said. Robinson was ordered to pay $1,100 in restitution to the homeowner.

• An out-of-town contractor told Niagara Falls police that a co-worker skipped town taking all her tools.

A woman working for an independent cellphone contractor, told police that her partner suddenly quit last week and has not returned phone calls from her or their company. The woman said the suspect was supposed to come and pick her up in his 2001 Alero on Jan. 17, but never returned. She said he had all her tools in his vehicle, which included different types of cable cutter, various wrenches, socket sets, screw guns, cable testers and a bar code scanner that belonged to the company.

Total loss was estimated $4,500.Jeffrey M. Tretter, 20, of Eddy Drive, North Tonawanda, pleaded guilty in Niagara County Court to fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He had about one-quarter ounce of cocaine May 15 as he sat in a car outside an apartment on Pine Street in Lockport, which police were raiding.

County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III assigned Tretter to the judicial diversion program of court-supervised drug treatment. Tretter faces a maximum of 5½ years in prison if he fails at the program, but if he succeeds, he will be placed on probation after his charge is reduced to a misdemeanor.

• Lockport police said they had to force a distraught man to hand over his infant son at his Niagara Street home. Brandon K. Hoffman, 19, of Niagara Street, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration at 9:15 p.m. Thursday.

Hoffman was found in his home crying and yelling, according to police, and refused to hand over his infant son to the baby’s mother or his father. Police said when they tried to talk to him he kicked at police. He reportedly became enraged when someone took the child, shaking and bouncing the baby around.

Additional officers were called to the scene and were able to return the child to the mother.

Hoffman was forcibly taken into custody and was physically subdued, police said.Erratic driving led to the arrest of a North Tonawanda man, who was later found to have been hiding a crack pipe inside his sock, sheriff’s deputies said.

Sharif Y. Hamdy, 40, of Nash Road, told Niagara County sheriff’s deputies that he had no driver’s license, and a check showed that he possessed only a nondriver’s I.D. card, which had been suspended for failure to appear in court in Grand Island, as well as failure to pay a fine in Amherst. Hamdy was charged with third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, as well as passing a red light and driving on the shoulder. Possible drug charges are pending the outcome of testing on the seized pipe.

• Upset over being denied a paper cup, a customer shoved a cash register off the counter and onto the floor of the City Market McDonald’s restaurant, Niagara Falls police said. The incident occurred just after 4 p.m. when the female customer asked for a cup but was refused. Enraged, she began yelling profanities before shoving the register to the floor and fleeing the restaurant, heading west on Pine Avenue, police said. The register was not damaged, and the woman could not be located, police said.A thief targeted a vacant house on C Street, stealing more than $2,000 worth copper pipe and wiring.

Police said the theft probably occurred during the previous week. Copper pipe and electrical wiring was stripped from the walls. Damage to drywall was estimated at $1,000.

• A false alarm on a possible medical emergency brought police and emergency crews to a Nicki’s Lane apartment house in Wheatfield, where they took a .380-caliber pistol from a 91-year-old man.

An EMS crew had convinced the man to put the gun down after arriving at the home shortly before 10 p.m. and seeing him through a window, holding the weapon. He told police he had owned the gun for three decades and did not realize he needed a permit to possess the weapon, which was then confiscated. A relative was contacted and was making plans to take possession of the gun. No charges were filed.

• A North Tonawanda man was charged with drunken driving after he went off the road and crashed into a tree at 7:30 p.m. in the 6800 block of Ward Road in Wheatfield.

Ronald J. Golimowski, 53, of Meadowbrook Drive, was charged with driving while intoxicated and failure to keep right by Niagara County sheriff’s deputies.

Golimowski went off the road, collided with a tree and needed to be extricated from his vehicle by rescuers from the St. Johnsburg Fire Company, according to deputies. He was taken by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center with leg and ankle injuries that rescuers called minor. When questioned, Golimowski told deputies he felt drowsy and went off the road. Deputies said they received a positive sensor reading for DWI.

He was charged at ECMC but refused to submit to a blood test until he was able to consult with an attorney, deputies said.A neighbor alerted Niagara County sheriff’s deputies when the lights were on, but no one was supposed to be living in a closed home on the seasonal Sunset Island.

The woman said she investigated and called deputies when it appeared that a window was broken at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Deputies said they found a rear door unsecured with Solo plastic cups littered throughout the house, a table set up for beer pong, a fireplace that had recently been burning wood, and a pull out futon couch with pillow and blankets. Deputies said the screen was pulled back, but no window was broken.

The house was secured by deputies, and the owner was contacted and asked to check the house and determine if anything was stolen or damaged.

• A 23-year-old man told Niagara Falls police he was beaten up by three men and had his car stolen when he went to a 24th Street address to attempt to purchase illegal prescription narcotics.

The victim told police he pulled up to an address in the 400 block of 24th Street at 7:30 p.m. to meet a woman and purchase several Opana pills, a narcotic painkiller, from her.

He said while he was waiting, a man walked up and asked for his identity and told him to follow him into the house. Once inside he told police he was confronted by two more men and the three men punched him, pulled him into a basement and shook him down, taking his wallet, which contained his driver’s license and $510 and then fled. The victim said when he went back outside his car, a 2004 Saturn, registered to his mother, was gone.

Police were allowed entry to the house and were able to search the basement, but said they were unable to locate the suspects or recover the vehicle.

• Niagara County sheriff’s deputies said they had to rapidly slow down to avoid a vehicle that left a parking lot without yielding to oncoming traffic just before 5 p.m. in the 5800 block of South Transit Road in Lockport.

Lisa Ann Sebo, 47, of Lockwood Lane was charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to stop from an alleyway or private drive, and moving from a lane unsafely.

She was additionally charged with drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle when she was found with an open, cold bottle of a flavored vodka drink within her reach.The property manager of a house in the 4000 block of Elmwood Avenue in Niagara Falls found the inside of the house destroyed, copper plumbing cut and stolen and electrical lines ripped out of the walls.

The manager said the previous tenants were evicted. He said someone had stripped the walls of pipes and electrical lines, stolen the water meter and water tank, damaged the walls, tore apart and destroyed the kitchen and two bathrooms. Loss was estimated at $16,750.
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