CLINTON-BAILEY AREA
Police seize large cache of fireworks from home
Several thousand dollars worth of fireworks were seized Saturday morning at a home in Buffalo’s Clinton-Bailey neighborhood.
A Manitoba Street man had the fireworks stored in a garage and planned to set them off during a Fourth of July bash for 200-plus people Saturday night, said Lt. Sal Colangelo, head of the fire marshal’s office.
“We put about a $5,000 to $6,000 wholesale value on it,” Colangelo said Saturday night. “It was for his own personal use.”
Charges are pending against the homeowner, Albert Steele, who is a demolition contractor, Colangelo said.
It’s more than a simple possession of fireworks, because they are high grade and a special permit is needed, Colangelo said.
“We’ve got to discuss the case with the [district attorney’s] office Monday to see what charges to levy,” Colangelo said.
City fire marshals received a tip about the fireworks Friday. Fire Marshals Joe Tomizzi and James O’Neill confirmed the tip with their own surveillance, Colangelo said.
Steele was cooperative when the fire marshals knocked on his door Saturday morning and explained that they came to confiscate the fireworks, Colangelo said.
Members of the Buffalo Police Department, Erie County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted.
It comes a day after a Town of Tonawanda man was charged with illegally selling fireworks from his vehicle.
Leon Sapp, 50, was arrested Friday and charged with possession of fireworks.
Police say they found another 200 pounds of fireworks at Sapp’s home in the Town of Tonawanda.
Sapp was accused last July of selling fireworks that sparked a fire in Buffalo that damaged four building.
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