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Fighting North Collins fire hits home for local chief

March 27, 2013, 8:38 am
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As volunteer firefighters raced to the scene of a house fire on Langford Road in North Collins on Tuesday night, the first person to respond, Langford-New Oregon Fire Chief Charles Hohman, knew the house well.

It was his brother Paul’s home.

Charles Hohman did what any firefighter would do at any occupied home. He went to the house to make sure everyone was out, and they were, Assistant Fire Chief Peter J. Loretto said.

Then it was time to fight the blaze.

“You get a heightened sense of emergency, but we calmed him down,” Loretto said Wednesday. “We said, ‘We can’t lose you. We need you here.’”

Chief Hohman led a large group of volunteers from 11 local fire companies who managed to save the home at 10552 Langford Road, after responding to a 9:32 p.m. alarm Tuesday.

“Luckily, the roof is still on it,” Loretto said. “That fire had a really good start. There was real heavy fire on the second floor. They made a really good push on it, and they pushed the fire out of the house.”

The lack of hydrants in the area forced Langford-New Oregon fire officials to call for tankers and firefighters from 10 other volunteer departments: Boston, Lawtons, North Collins, Collins Center, Collins, Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, Mortons Corners, Brant, Evans Center and Eden.

No damage estimate or cause was available, but fire officials said the home sustained heavy fire damage on the second floor and extensive water damage, especially on the first floor.

email: gwarner@buffnews.com
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Ex-trooper gets probation for role in parties with prostitutes

March 27, 2013, 10:00 am
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Titus Z. Taggart, an 18-year veteran of the State Police who was fired last summer after an internal investigation into allegations he was involved with off-duty parties with prostitutes, was sentenced in Erie County Court Wednesday to three years’ probation.

Judge Kenneth F. Case also ordered Taggart to perform 300 hours of community service.

Taggart, 42, of Buffalo, had faced up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine after admitting to a misdemeanor count of promoting prostitution.

Case rebuked Taggart for dishonoring the State Police uniform but decided against jailing him, given the financial losses the ex-trooper has suffered with the loss of his job. The judge also cited many letters he has received on Taggart’s behalf. A State Police investigation revealed that Taggart organized, advertised and supervised exotic dance parties involving dancers and prostitutes.

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office agreed to the plea because Taggart’s police career is over, and he has suffered severe financial consequences as a result of his firing, prosecutor Paul E. Bonanno said in December when Taggart pleaded guilty.

Taggart, a resident of the Bailey-Kensington neighborhood, apologized to his family, friends and the State Police at the sentencing. He also thanked his church community, Mount Zion Church of God Holiness, for its support.

“He spoke from the heart,” said his lawyer, Michael G. O’Rourke.

Currently unemployed, Taggart is suffering from a medical condition that evolved from a kidney transplant 14 years ago, according to O’Rourke.

“He is on a number of medications, and it makes for a difficult situation,” the attorney said.

He is the son of Arthur L. Taggart, a well-respected colonel in the State Police who is now retired. The older Taggart and his wife were present in court.

“His father was absolutely supportive and 100 percent behind Titus throughout this whole ordeal,” O’Rourke said.

Taggart hopes to work with young people in the Buffalo community to fulfill the community service portion of his sentence.

“His hope is that they could benefit in a positive way from all his life experiences,” O’Rourke said in pointing out that, except for what undid his client’s career, he was never in any type of trouble. “For 18 years, he had an unblemished record. After the kidney transplant, he could have gone out on a medical retirement but fought his way back, and really it was a courageous rehabilitation to get back on the job.”

The attorney said he was unable to offer any explanation why Taggart engaged in the deeds that ended his law enforcement career.

O’Rourke said: “It was so out of character.”



email: lmichel@buffnews.com
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32-year-old man convicted on weapons charge

March 27, 2013, 11:26 am
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A week-long jury trial has led to the conviction of Gerald Hogue, 32, on a second-degree weapons possession charge following an August 2011 arrest, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III announced.

Hogue was arrested in possession of a loaded .38-caliber handgun after Buffalo police officers responded to a disturbance at Davidson Avenue and Suffolk Street. The investigation determined that Hogue possessed the weapon and then passed it to his co-defendant, Cynthia Holes, who previously was convicted on a weapons charge, prosecutors said.

Both Hogue and Holes face maximum prison terms of 15 years when sentenced before Erie County Judge Michael Pietruszka, authorities said.

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Switching seats with passenger leads to guilty plea

March 27, 2013, 12:13 pm
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Changing seats with a passenger just before entering a DWI checkpoint didn’t work for a 50-year-old Buffalo man.

Jose R. Serrano Jr., of Linwood Avenue, has pleaded guilty to felony DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation, Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III announced.

Serrano changed seats with his passenger before entering a Buffalo police DWI checkpoint last July. Prosecutors say he admitted to drinking six beers, failed four sobriety tests and registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 percent. His license had been revoked because of two prior drunken-driving charges, authorities said.

Serrano faces a maximum prison sentence of four years when he’s sentenced June 12 before State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski.
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Clarendon man killed in Byron collision

March 27, 2013, 2:40 pm
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BYRON – A 29-year-old Clarendon man was killed when he was thrown from his pickup truck as it overturned after being struck by an SUV at about 9 a.m. today on State Route 262 at Chapel Road, state police in Batavia reported.

The victim, Jerry Murray, was driving west on Route 262 when Terry Boyce, 57, of Alabama made a left turn off Chapel Road to head east on the state route and struck the pickup at the intersection.

Murray’s truck rolled over several times. He was declared dead at the scene from multiple injuries.

Boyce was issued a traffic ticket at the scene for failing to yield the right of way. State police are continuing to investigate the incident.







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Python found in Perry home

March 27, 2013, 4:14 pm
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PERRY – A 39-year-old South Main Street man was arrested and a Burmese Python snake was safely removed from his home by agents of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Wildlife Bureau this morning following a raid by DEC agents, New York State troopers and Village of Perry Police officers.

Darrell Alan Boyd was charged by DEC agents with violating the State’s Environmental Conservation Law by illegally possessing the dangerous constrictor snake in his home. He was issued an appearance ticket for a Perry Village Court session May 7.

DEC spokesmen said the snake is being “secured” at an undisclosed location pending disposition of the criminal case.

DEC spokesmen said reports of similar situations can be reported to the DEC at 1-800-847-7332.
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Two killed in three-car crash in Wilson

March 27, 2013, 4:47 pm
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WILSON – Speed is being investigated as a factor in a three car crash that killed two Wilson drivers just before 4 p.m. today on Wilson-Burt Road.

“That distance [of the crash pattern] between 400 to 500 feet at the crash scene indicates the chance that there was speeding, plus the damage to the cars was catastrophic,” Niagara County Sheriff James R. Voutour said.

According to a preliminary investigation, an unidentified Ransomville man, in a large pickup truck was driving eastbound in the 4800 block of Wilson-Burt Road, between Maple and North Beebe roads when he rear-ended a tan Buick LeSabre, being driven by a Village of Wilson woman, causing her car to cross over into the westbound lane and roll over, cross a ditch and land several feet off the road, according to Voutour.

The Village of Wilson woman was removed from her car, but she died shortly later in Eastern Niagara Hospital in Newfane.

The force of the crash also caused the pickup to cross into the westbound lane, where it struck another vehicle, a blue four door Saturn. The pickup struck the driver’s side of the westbound car, killing an unidentified Wilson man at the scene said Voutour.

“It looked like he saw the accident coming at him and was pretty close to stopped when he was hit,” Voutour said.

While both cars were significantly damaged the 3/4 ton pickup had only front end damage and the driver was conscious at the scene and able to walk away from the crash. He was being treated at Eastern Niagara Hospital in Newfane for minor injuries, according to Voutour.

Voutour said both sheriff investigators and the district attorney’s office were called to the hospital.

He said the crash was not alcohol-related, but investigators are looking at everything else.

“That’s why the accident investigation unit is here,” he said.

“If he was under the influence this could be charged as a homicide, but speed alone is hard to charge.” Voutour said. “But it’s not impossible. That’s why the [district attorney] is looking at this.”

Four volunteer fire departments, Wilson No. 1, South Wilson, Miller Hose and Olcott, assisted at the crash scene.



email: nfischer@buffnews.com
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Tonawanda Coke exec’s lawyer offers rebuttal at trial

March 27, 2013, 5:05 pm
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If there’s a human face to the Tonawanda Coke trial, it’s Mark L. Kamholz.

It is Kamholz, the company executive in charge of environmental compliance for three decades, who stands accused of trying to hide a little known bleeder valve from government inspectors.

And it is Kamholz, the only individual defendant in the case, who allegedly told a fellow worker not to worry about benzene levels at the Town of Tonawanda plant.

Wednesday, Kamholz’s attorney offered a federal jury a point-by-point rebuttal of the criminal charges that could ultimately send him to prison.

“What the government’s trying to do here just doesn’t wash,” Rodney O. Personius, his defense lawyer, said in his closing summation.

Personius accused the government of trying to “throw some dirt on Mark Kamholz” as part of a legal strategy that portrayed him as sinister and deceitful.

To hear Personius talk, it was Kamholz who ensured that Tonawanda Coke complied with state and federal environmental regulations for nearly 30 years.

And it was Kamholz, he told the jury, who helped pave the way for removal of the controversial bleeder valve and improvements to the plant’s two “quench” or cooling towers.

The valve and towers are at the crux of the government’s prosecution and account for all but three of the 19 felony counts against the company and Kamholz.

Personius said his client’s downfall began with a weeklong inspection in April 2009 that changed how Tonawanda Coke was regulated and ultimately led to the criminal case.

“There was a tsunami change,” Personius said of the 2009 inspection and a change in attitude among state and federal inspectors. “Our position is that just wasn’t fair.”

Personius’ summation was one of the last aspects of a trial that has lasted four weeks and included more than 30 witnesses, many of them former and current Tonawanda Coke employees.

The company is facing 19 charges, most of them violations of the federal Clean Air Act.

Federal prosecutors had the last word Wednesday and used their time to detail Kamholz’s involvement in each of the allegations made by the government.

Prosecutor Rocky J. Piaggione reminded the jury that it was Kamholz who relied on state inspector Gary Foersch missing several important violations at the River Road facility.

“He relied on Mr. Foersch not finding out, on not getting caught,” Piaggione said.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations today.



email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com
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Falls man draws five years in prison for double stabbing

March 27, 2013, 5:19 pm
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LOCKPORT – Derrick L. Hall, who stabbed two men in the abdomen in a confrontation over alleged vehicle break-ins in Niagara Falls, was sentenced Wednesday by Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas to five years in prison and three years of post-release supervision.

Hall, 44, of Welch Avenue, was charged with the Aug. 28, 2011, knifings of two men who accused him of breaking into cars on that street. Hall never was charged with the break-ins. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault.

“He chose the incorrect way to defend himself when confronted by the vigilantes,” defense attorney Samuel Davis said.

Farkas noted that Hall went into a friend’s house and came back with a weapon after being accused by four men, two of whom were cut in the ensuing fracas.
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Defiant burglary suspect takes plea deal

March 27, 2013, 5:22 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Niagara Falls man who told police he would beat a burglary charge pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges Tuesday in Niagara County Court, as a felony charge was dismissed.

Marc Madore, 40, of 24th Street, is to be sentenced May 14 by Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas for second-degree criminal trespass and petit larceny.

The latter charge stemmed from shoplifting a beer at a 7-Eleven store on Pine Avenue in the Falls Aug. 7, which is when police also charged him with a July 22 break-in at a Buffalo Avenue residence. When he was arrested, Madore reportedly told police that not only would he beat the charges, he would “take this city down like the Twin Towers.”
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Probation violation charged against driver in DWI fatal

March 27, 2013, 5:24 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Tuscarora Indian Reservation woman, who received a probation sentence after pleading guilty to crashing her car and killing her cousin, was jailed without bail Wednesday after being charged with violating the terms of probation.

Elexis K. Printup, 26, of Mount Hope Road, could be sent to state prison for as long as four years if she is found guilty of the violations in a hearing State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. scheduled for April 10.

On May 19, 2007, Printup’s speeding car went off Upper Mountain Road on the reservation and struck a tree. Her passenger, Cyril R. Printup III, 24, was killed. Elexis Printup pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and driving while intoxicated.

Printup, whose five-year probation expired Monday, was charged in February with failing to report to her probation officer, being kicked out of a substance abuse treatment program and failing to perform 250 hours of community service, as Kloch ordered in 2008.

A probation officer complained that Printup was “eluding” him in several attempts to serve her with the violation before she was apprehended Tuesday.
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Man sentenced to probation in Falls drug case

March 27, 2013, 5:38 pm
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LOCKPORT – Five years’ probation was the sentence from Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas Wednesday for a Niagara Falls man who pleaded guilty to having nearly half an ounce of cocaine when police pulled his car over April 11 on West Avenue in Lockport.

Cordaro T. Walker, 21, of Hyde Park Boulevard, had pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He had to forfeit $50 police took from him at the time of the arrest.
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Cambria woman takes plea deal in drugstore burglaries

March 27, 2013, 5:41 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Cambria woman will be sentenced to either one year in Niagara County Jail or five years’ probation after accepting a plea bargain Wednesday in connection with two 2011 drugstore break-ins.

County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas set sentencing May 22 for Katherine E. Billingsley, 22, of Lower Mountain Road, who admitted to third-degree burglary.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Scalzo said Billingsley drove burglar Alexander J. Shelbayeh, 23, of Wilson, to the crime scenes but never entered the stores herself.

Billingsley agreed to pay $2,500 restitution to the former owner of Peterson Drug Co. in Newfane, which was burglarized May 18, 2011. The other burglary occurred Feb. 9, 2011, at Wilson Community Pharmacy. Shelbayeh is on parole after serving nine months in state prison.

The plea satisfied an indictment that also accused Billingsley of taking part in the forgery of checks stolen from a Cambria man in September 2012. Co-defendant Shane M. Phillips, 25, of Baer Road, Cambria, is awaiting sentencing in that case.
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Two Wilson residents, Clarendon man killed in separate car crashes

March 27, 2013, 6:59 pm
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Three persons were killed in two separate crashes Wednesday on Western New York highways.

Two drivers from Wilson died after a three-car collision just before 4 p.m. on Wilson-Burt Road in Niagara County, and a Clarendon man was killed when he was thrown from his pickup truck in a crash about 9 a.m. on Route 262 in Byron, Genesee County.

The names of the victims in the Niagara County crash were not immediately released. The victim in Genesee County was identified as Jerry Murray, 29.

Speed was being investigated as a factor in the three-car crash on Wilson-Burt Road in Burt. “That distance [of the crash pattern] between 400 and 500 feet at the crash scene indicates the chance that there was speeding, plus the damage to the cars was catastrophic,” Niagara County Sheriff James R. Voutour said.

According to a preliminary investigation, an unidentified Ransomville man, in a large pickup truck, was driving eastbound in the 4800 block of Wilson-Burt Road, between Maple and North Beebe roads, when he rear-ended a tan Buick LeSabre, being driven by a Village of Wilson woman, causing her car to cross over into the westbound lane and roll over, cross a ditch and land several feet off the road, according to Voutour.

The Village of Wilson woman was removed from her car, but she died a short time later in Eastern Niagara Hospital in Newfane.

The force of the crash also caused the pickup to cross into the westbound lane, where it struck another vehicle, a blue four-door Saturn. The pickup struck the driver’s side of the westbound car, killing an unidentified Wilson man at the scene, said Voutour.

“It looked like he saw the accident coming at him and was pretty close to stopped when he was hit,” Voutour said.

While both cars were significantly damaged the ¾-ton pickup had only front-end damage, and the driver was conscious and able to walk away from the crash. He was treated at Eastern Niagara Hospital in Newfane for minor injuries, according to Voutour.

Voutour said sheriff investigators and the District Attorney’s Office were called to the hospital.

He said the crash was not alcohol-related, but investigators are looking at everything else.

“That’s why the accident investigation unit is here,” he said.

“If he was under the influence, this could be charged as a homicide, but speed alone is hard to charge.” he said. “But it’s not impossible. That’s why the [district attorney] is looking at this.”

Four volunteer fire departments, Wilson No. 1, South Wilson, Miller Hose and Olcott, assisted at the crash scene.

In the Genesee County crash, state police said Murray was killed when he was thrown from his pickup truck as it overturned after being struck by an SUV on Route 262 at Chapel Road.

Investigators said Murray was driving west on Route 262 when Terry Boyce, 57, of Alabama, made a left turn off Chapel Road to head east on the state route and struck the pickup at the intersection.

Murray’s truck rolled over several times. He was declared dead at the scene from multiple injuries.

Boyce was issued a traffic ticket for failing to yield the right of way.

State police are continuing to investigate the accident.



email: citydesk@buffnews.com
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Airport Taxi workers raise $5,000 to help find killer

March 28, 2013, 5:47 am
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Co-workers of the late Mazen Abdallah at the Airport Taxi company said Wednesday that they have raised $5,000 to offer as a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer or killers of their friend. Officials of the taxi company could not be reached to comment.

Buffalo police are still searching for suspects in the March 6 slaying on Perry Street.

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2 face robbery, prostitution counts

March 28, 2013, 5:50 am
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A 59-year-old Cheektowaga man and a 25-year-old Buffalo woman were being held Tuesday on robbery and prostitution-related charges linked to an alleged online extortion scheme linked to lonely men seeking dates through Adult Chat lines.

Robert M. Wozniak was arrested Saturday, and Amber L. Kwasniewski was arrested Tuesday following a two-month investigation by West Seneca police and state police. Both are charged with second-degree robbery, second-degree burglary, grand larceny and criminal impersonation of a police officer. Wozniak was separately charged with promoting prostitution, and Kwasniewski was separately charged with prostitution.

Following West Seneca Town Court arraignments, Wozniak was held in lieu of $25,000 bail and Kwasniewski in lieu of $30,000 bail.

West Seneca detectives said that after victims made contact with victims at online Adult Chat lines and set up “dates,” she would show up at their homes with Wozniak driving her. On meeting the victim, Wozniak would use what detectives described as his “imposing size” to either make threats of being a police undercover officer or an angry father of the supposedly “underaged” Amber.

At that point, Kwasniewski is accused of extorting money from the victims.

The ongoing investigation has also uncovered a similar possible case in the Blasdell area. Detectives said anyone with information on the scams can call the West Seneca Police Detective Bureau at 674-3154 or their local police.
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2 plead guilty in armed robbery of woman

March 28, 2013, 5:52 am
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A 53-year-old Plymouth Avenue man and an 18-year-old Buffalo man have pleaded guilty in the armed robbery of a 21-year-old woman during an armed holdup at a McDonald’s restaurant on Niagara Street last Aug. 12.

Carl Graves pleaded guilty as charged to second-degree robbery, and Charles Clarke III pleaded guilty to an attempted burglary charge, both before State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller. Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said Graves pleased guilty to the highest charge he would have faced had he gone to trial. Clarke could be given youthful offender status at his sentencing.

Graves, who faces a prison term of at least seven years May 10, took $120 from the victim after threatening to shoot her, Sedita said.

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Tonawanda Coke, top executive found guilty of federal charges

March 28, 2013, 2:09 pm
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In the end, it may have come down to the workers.

One by one, they took the witness stand and testified about benzene emissions and toxic sludge and how Tonawanda Coke seemed nervous about government inspectors.

A jury, after listening to those workers, found Tonawanda Coke and one of its executives guilty today of polluting the air and ground at its River Road plant.

The panel of 12 men and women deliberated much of the day before returning guilty verdicts in 14 of the 19 criminal charges against the company and 15 of the 19 charges against Mark L. Kamholz, its environmental controls manager.

“Justice was served,” said Jackie James Creedon, founder of the Tonawanda Community Fund, a local citizens group. “It was a message to all industrial polluters.”

The verdict followed four weeks of testimony by more than 30 witnesses, many of them former and current Tonawanda Coke employees who testified about clean air violations and improper waste handling.

“I think the testimony from workers was very compelling,” said Erin Heaney, executive director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York. “I want to thank those workers for coming forward.”

Defense lawyers and company executives declined to comment after the verdict, which came after several hours of deliberation by the jury and just a day after lawyers on both sides gave their summations.

The case, believed to be the biggest local environmental trial in years and only the second criminal prosecution nationally involving the Clean Air Act, centered around a wide range of allegations.

Six of the 19 charges dealt with a little-known bleeder valve that spewed coke oven gas with benzene into the air.

The company also stood accused of using “quenching” or cooling towers that lacked necessary anti-pollution equipment, and of illegally disposing of coal tar sludge, one of the byproducts of its coking operation.

The jury found the company and Kamholz guilty of all three allegations but not guilty of similar charges related to one of the two quenching towers.

“This was an historic case on many levels," said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. “In the end, this was all about Tonawanda Coke and Mark Kamholz putting profits ahead of people.”



News Staff Reporter Matt Gryta contributed to this report.

email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com









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Grease fire causes heavy damage in Falls

March 28, 2013, 3:21 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – A grease fire that got out of control was blamed for a blaze that caused $35,000 damage just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday to a house at 2235 Cleveland Avenue.

David Thomas, who is in his 50s and was the only resident of the two-story house, escaped without injury, according to Daniel M. Ciszek, chief of fire prevention for the Niagara Falls Fire Department.

“It appears that [Thomas] started some grease on the stove and then went upstairs and either forgot about it or mistimed the heating of the grease,” Ciszek said. “The fire extended to the kitchen and into the dining and living room areas, as well as the exterior back wall.”

He said firefighters rescued one dog from the house

“The dog was smart enough to run into the basement to escape the smoke,” Ciszek said.

Damage was listed at $20,000 to the structure and $15,000 to the contents.

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Man found stopped in roadway charged with drunken driving

March 28, 2013, 3:31 pm
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PENDLETON – Niagara County sheriff deputies said they found a Lockport man parked at 7:22 p.m. Wednesday in the 5800 block of Donner Road with a green balloon in his hands and held up to his mouth. The driver told deputies the balloon contained nitrous oxide cartridges which the driver called “whip its.”

The driver, Matthew C. Pierce, 26, of Willow Street, was charged with driving while intoxicated and being parked or stopped on a highway.

Deputies said they asked about the balloon after Pierce told them he had stopped to do some whip its, filling the large balloon and inhaling nitrous oxide cartridges. Deputies said they confiscated 21 cartridges.

Pierce also admitted to having 2 or 3 drinks at a Lockport bar and was found with a blood alcohol level of 0.12 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
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