Niagara County legislators vote for probe of coroner
To examine links to pair accused of ties to prostitution
By Denise Jewell Gee
- NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 05/07/08 9:21 AM
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- William L. Ross says he will name inquiry board members within two days.
LOCKPORT — The Niagara County Legislature voted unanimously Tuesday to establish a board of inquiry to probe the role of Coroner James M. Joyce as a business associate of a couple who federal prosecutors have accused of operating massage parlors that served as fronts for prostitution.
Legislature Chairman William L. Ross, C-Wheatfield, said he would announce the board members within two days.
Joyce, a coroner for 29 years, has not been charged in the federal investigation into the Niagara County and Erie County prostitution ring and has denied any role in the massage parlor business. But he introduced the parlors’ owners, Che Ngan “Alan” Tsui and his wife, Len Wah “Lisa” Chong, at political gatherings and invested in some of their other business enterprises.
Legislator Paul B. Wojtaszek, RNorth Tonawanda, said the board would look into whether Joyce, a Democrat, had included his business interests in public disclosure reports and whether he violated any lobbying rules, among other potential conflicts.
County Legislature Minority Leader Dennis F. Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, complained about establishing the board without a specifying what allegations it would investigate.
“Right now, it would be more like a political witch-hunt, if you ask me,” Virtuoso said, “because I don’t know, and you still haven’t told me, what are the allegations.”
The resolution states only that the board would “review and evaluate the role of Coroner Joyce in the allegations of illegal activity lodged against his business associates.”
“I don’t want to telegraph what we’re doing,” Wojtaszek said.
Virtuoso later joined in the vote to establish the board.
Under state law, a board of inquiry set up by a county legislature has the power to subpoena evidence and compel witnesses to testify.
Chong pleaded guilty last month to forcing women to work as prostitutes in her four area massage parlors. Tsui has pleaded not guilty.
In other business Tuesday, the
Legislature called on state leaders to lift a 90-day moratorium on applications to the state’s Brown Cleanup Program that could affect two Niagara County development projects. The program provides incentives and tax credits for qualifying projects.
A proposal by Torontobased Northern Ethanol to build a $245 million ethanol plant in Niagara Falls and a project to convert the former Remington Rand plant in North Tonawanda into loft spaces had applied for the state program in December.
But their applications have been put on hold because of the moratorium, said Legislator Richard E. Updegrove, R-Lockport.
The delay has affected financing opportunities for both projects, said Bob Murray, an attorney with Harris Beach who has worked on both projects.
The projects are the first in the county to apply for the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Program.
Also Tuesday, the Legislature threw its support behind using $248,600 of the county’s Greenway funds toward a $1.01 million proposal to build a fishing pier and natural playground in Gratwick Riverside Park in North Tonawanda.
