Not-guilty plea entered in Jan. 9 armed robbery
LOCKPORT—A Buffalo man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Niagara County Court to taking part in the Jan. 9 armed robbery of a man in his car at Smokin’ Joe’s gas station in Lewiston.
Jeffrey C. Fleischer, 19, of West Avenue, is charged with two counts each of first-and second-degree robbery and single counts of first-and second-degree criminal use of a firearm, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fifth-degree conspiracy and attempted evidence tampering. Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza set bail at $50,000.
Assistant District Attorney Susan B. Bjornholm said recordings of phone calls Fleischer made from the Niagara County Jail allegedly revealed a plan to have his girlfriend stash a broken firearm or a BB gun in a vacant house near her home and then report it to police, in hopes he’d be charged with something less than if a shotgun were found.
Bjornholm said Fleischer allegedly pointed a shotgun at the head of the victim from behind, while co-defendant Nicholas Cortese pointed a handgun at the victim. Cortese, 20, of the Town of Tonawanda, has pleaded guilty in this case and in the separate stabbing of a Lockport cab driver, and is scheduled for sentencing next week.
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