Amherst man gets 11 years for role in cocaine ring
An Amherst man was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to 11 years in prison Tuesday on a cocaine-trafficking conviction.
Jeremy Hall, 34, was one of 23 people charged in 2009 with operating a large-scale cocaine distribution ring at several bars in Niagara County and the northern suburbs of Erie County.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. McCabe said Hall distributed at least 110 pounds of cocaine to customers between 2004 and 2009.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the FBI, Niagara County Drug Task Force, and Niagara Falls and Amherst police.
Canadian officer is cleared in fatal pursuit of suspect
A Canadian police officer will not face charges in connection with the July death of an 18-year-old man who fell into the Niagara Gorge while the officer was chasing him, the director of the agency’s Special Investigations Unit announced Monday.
Ryan Dube, who was wanted on a warrant for breach of probation, propelled himself over a stone retaining wall separating River Road from the Niagara Gorge, with Constable Jacob Smits of the Niagara Regional Police Service in pursuit, the afternoon of July 24.
No witnesses saw physical contact between the two at the retaining wall or immediately thereafter, said Ian Scott, the SIU director.
“I am of the view that Mr. Dube’s demise was not related to any wrongful act by the subject officer,” he concluded.
Chautauqua County man held in molesting of girl
STOCKTON – A Bear Lake Road man is being held in the Chautauqua County Jail on $15,000 bail after being accused of molesting a girl under age 13 a number of times from 2005 until 2009.
Emery A. Masiker, 49, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual act and sexual conduct against a child, Chautauqua County sheriff’s deputies said this week. The alleged incidents occurred in various locations, deputies said.
The Sheriff’s Office, the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office and child advocacy programs in Chautauqua County and Bucks County, Pa., participated in the investigation.
Lockport street sweeper, motorcycle collide; 2 hurt
LOCKPORT – City police are investigating a crash involving drivers of a city street sweeper and a motorcycle at Davison Road and Fairway Drive at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
The city driver was leaving Fairway on the street sweeper when he collided at the intersection with a Lockport man driving his motorcycle south on Davison, knocking the Lockport man and his female passenger off the motorcycle, said Capt. Michael F. Niethe. Both were treated for minor injuries at Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport and released. The driver of the street sweeper was unhurt.
Niethe said it appears that the street sweeper driver had been making a U-turn to go back onto Fairway when he somehow “caught the motorcycle” at the intersection.
The case remained under investigation.
Man who stabbed himself is found hiding under tree
LEWISTON – Lewiston police, state police and Niagara County sheriff’s deputies, K-9 units and the County One helicopter were called to the 5200 block of Hewitt Parkway late Monday to search for a 61-year-old Hewitt Parkway man who had stabbed himself during a domestic dispute.
After a search that lasted about a half-hour through backyards in the area of Hewitt Parkway, the man was found early Tuesday hiding under a pine tree.
Deputies said the man jumped out at them from under the tree, carrying a flashlight and cellphone, and ran toward them, making an obscene gesture with his middle finger and telling them to shoot him.
Deputies said John C. Gardner first tried to charge at patrol, then tried to run away. He eventually was taken into custody by force, according to deputies.
Gardner was taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center for a medical and psychological evaluation, deputies said.
Man accused of growing pot behind house, in woods
FRENCH CREEK – State police arrested a French Creek man Tuesday and dug up 64 marijuana plants growing behind a residence and in a wooded area outside Clymer.
Richard L. Gibbons Jr., of Reagan Road, was charged with growing cannabis.
Troopers, who were assisted by the State Police Aviation Unit, spotted and eradicated 28 marijuana plants behind Gibbons’ house, state police said.
Also Tuesday, troopers again using the Aviation Unit spotted and eradicated 36 marijuana plants being cultivated in a wooded area west of Nazareth Road in the Town of Clymer. An investigation into that case is continuing.