From the blotter / Niagara County police calls, June 23 to 30
June 23
• A 61-year-old Walnut Street man was injured after a man punched him in the head at 8:30 p. m. in the 700 block of Eighth Street, Niagara Falls police said. The suspect, who was not charged, said he came to confront the man about molesting his niece and nephew. The suspect said the Walnut Street man threatened him with a steak knife, which prompted him to punch the man in the head and leave. Police said the injured man was highly intoxicated. Detectives were continuing the investigation into the molesting allegation.
• Jodi Lynn Johnson, 46, of Cudaback Avenue, Niagara Falls, was charged by Niagara Falls police with petit larceny and assault at 3 p. m. in the Family Dollar on Main Street. The security manager said Johnson was found with items in her purse when she was checking out, but when confronted, Johnson dumped her purse and ran. The security manager said she ran to lock the door, and the suspect grabbed her around the waist and threw her into a wall. Police said the store video confirms the security manager’s story.
• The owner of Russell Fruit Service on Ketchum Road in Newfane told sheriff’s deputies that for a second time someone had entered the storage yard by pushing down the barbed wire. He said last time copper was stolen, but said that now he has a guard dog on site and nothing was stolen this time. He asked for patrols to check the area since he believes that the thieves may come back for remaining scrap metal at the site.
June 24
• Two Newfane residents were charged by sheriff’s deputies with assault following a fight on Main Street at 9:30 p. m. Brandon J. Culverwell, 23, and Jennifer L. Ferguson, both of Main Street, were additionally charged with harassment and petit larceny. A 21-year-old woman told deputies that she and a friend were walking down the street and Culverwell and Ferguson pushed her down and jumped on her, punching her in the face and back of the head. The woman said she dropped her purse, which contained a prescription, and Culverwell took the pills. The woman was treated for minor head injuries and both Culverwell and Ferguson were charged, deputies said.
• A 24th Street man told Niagara Falls police that at 11:45 p. m. that a back window in his home was smashed and someone stole a 32-inch television from his dining room.
• A homeowner told Niagara Falls police that someone hired to do a roofing job on Niagara Avenue was allowed to work late and then stole a compressor and nail gun from the job. The homeowner told police at 6:15 p. m. that the man was seen loading the items into a basket and then leaving on his bicycle.
• Anthony D. Ellis, 32, of Holey Street, Buffalo, was charged by Lockport police with petit larceny, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration. An assistant manager at Rite Aid on Washburn Street told police that Ellis walked out with a bag of items and when told to stop, ran off. Ellis was stopped by police after a brief foot chase and found with $123 worth of items, including two ear thermometers, a water filter and an energy drink, according to reports.
June 25
• Ernest L. Ruffin, 30, of Ashland Avenue, Niagara Falls, was charged by Niagara Falls police with fourth-degree larceny. Ruffin was found at an 18th Street address after a man accused him earlier of taking $50 from his pocket and fleeing. The victim told police that a man had asked for a cigarette in the 400 block of 19th Street and then fled.
June 26
• A Town of Lockport woman told sheriff’s deputies that she gave a man her PIN number and allowed him to take her debit card the previous day in order to borrow $20, but then went online and found that the man had made eight withdrawals that day, at various sites, totaling $353. The woman said she wasn’t able to make the withdrawals herself because she had a cast on her leg and was in a wheelchair. Deputies were investigating.
• A Sanborn man was booked and released by Niagara Falls police following charges by New York State troopers at an unspecified site. Hubert J. Pringle, 33, of Shenk Road, was charged at 10:15 at headquarters with driving while intoxicated, driving while under the influence of drugs, failure to signal, failure to keep right and improper lane use, police reported.
June 27
• George M. Stephens, 28, of Whitney Avenue, Niagara Falls, was charged with second-degree burglary, menacing, endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest and loitering at 8:23 p. m., Niagara Falls police said. Stephens reportedly fled from a police investigation, running into a Pierce Avenue home without permission and hiding out in a child’s bedroom closet. Police said Stephens had fake cocaine in his possession at the time of his arrest.
• The door of a Ninth Street apartment was forced open between 3:15 and 8 p. m., Niagara Falls police said, with a thief entering and taking a broken cellular telephone valued at $15. It was the second break-in at the home in the past two weeks, officers said.
• A mountain bike was stolen from the basement of an 18th Street home after someone forced open a side door to the building, Niagara Falls police said.
• A City of Niagara Falls employee told city police that a wooden picnic table was stolen overnight from a site in the 9500 block of Colvin Boulevard. The table, valued at $200, was removed by unscrewing it from a post that it had been attached to, workers told police.
• Edith A. Janese, 45, of Isherwood Drive, Niagara Falls, was charged by city police with driving while intoxicated, failure to keep right and unlawful possession of marijuana just after midnight at 60th Street and Niagara Falls Boulevard. Police said Janese’s red convertible almost hit a concrete divide and was going over lines on the left and right side of the road as it traveled down Niagara Falls Boulevard. Janese said she had a few drinks at Cocktail Bob’s, but denied that marijuana cigarettes in the car were hers and told police that someone must have put them there while the top was down, according to reports.
• A fire was reported in a single-family home at 3711 Beebe Road in Wilson, sheriff’s deputies reported. The owner, Amanda Cook-Cassic, said she had gone to Lockport at 4:30 p. m. to pick up a pizza and had left a basement window partially open. Deputies said they located a suspicious, partially burned rag and a neighbor told deputies that he thought he heard a small explosion. The Niagara County Cause and Origin Team has reported the fire as “suspicious in nature” and under investigation. A cardboard box which had been in the basement and was later found in the yard was taken into evidence. One Newfane volunteer firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion. Total damage to the house was estimated at $20,000.
June 28
• A Youngstown teen was charged with driving while intoxicated after his car was stopped just after 1 a. m. at Hyde Park Boulevard and Pine Avenue, Niagara Falls police said. Ryan
M. White, 17, of Main Street, was also charged with unlicensed operation.
• Sheriff’s deputies charged a Middleport man with DWI, failure to keep right and unlawful possession of marijuana. David L. Murphy, 40, of State Street, was stopped on Dysinger Road in the Town of Lockport at 12:23 a. m. after his car nearly struck a sheriff’s patrol vehicle, according to reports.
• Stephanie E. Parks, 41, of 18th Street, Niagara Falls, was charged with DWI and two counts of failing to signal a turn after Niagara Falls police stopped her at 1:34 a. m. in the 400 block of 18th Street, reports said.
• A Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, resident told Niagara Falls police that two tires on his car were slashed and the seats of the vehicle were also cut. He had been visiting his ex-wife at a Niagara Falls Boulevard location when his car was damaged, sometime between 2 and 3 a. m.
• Jeremy G. Godlewski, no age listed, was charged with DWI and speeding after Niagara Falls police stopped the Lindbergh Avenue man’s car at 2:48 a. m. on Packard Road, according to reports.
• Lee O. Brewer Jr., 42, of Fairfield Avenue, Niagara Falls was arrested at 10:30 p. m. at Main Street and Niagara Avenue. He was charged with DWI, failure to keep right and consuming an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle, Niagara Falls police said.
• A pickup stolen in Lancaster was found abandoned in the 500 block of Third Street just before 11:30 p. m., Niagara Falls police said. The vehicle’s steering column had been heavily damaged.
• Lockport police said they charged one woman after responding to a fight report on Prentice Street at 9:16 p. m. Jane E. Olear, 41, of Prentice Street, was charged with third-degree assault. Police reported Olear was “highly intoxicated,” with a cut on her face and blood on her shirt. The other woman was bleeding from her head and face and said Olear had come over for a talk and then got angry, knocked her to the ground and punched her in the head and face, police said.
• Jason C. Mesler, 22, of Tonawanda Creek Road, Amherst, was charged by Lockport police with harassment and menacing after turning himself in at police headquarters. Two women told police that the evening before on Willow Street, Mesler had approached their car, swearing at them and threatening to kill both of them. One woman said Mesler was behind them at a traffic light and put a knife to his throat and made cutting motions, according to reports.
• A 16-year-old North Carolina girl was charged with assault, menacing, harassment, felony burglary and criminal mischief in a Ransom Street home by Lockport police. The previous afternoon a Washington Street woman said the girl barged in, called her a crackhead, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her across the room, tried to throw her down the stairs, punched her in the face and then stomped on her face. She said the girl also threatened to shoot her and ripped her shirt. The woman said the North Carolina girl was threatening her because she was dating the girl’s brother.
June 29
• A Porter Road man told Niagara Falls police he was attacked in the drive-through line of the McDonald’s restaurant on Niagara Falls Boulevard at 3:55 a. m. The man said that he honked at a car that was not moving in line, and that three men jumped out, kicked the door of his car and threw their food all over his vehicle.
• An Ontario Avenue resident told Niagara Falls police he allowed a man to use his home to cut a client’s hair, and that during the hair appointment the teenage customer apparently stole his cellular telephone, valued at $250.
• Niagara Falls police investigated an incident at a Fifth Street property in which the contents of several garbage cans were dumped into the back yard of the home. About 10 light fixtures in the basement of the building were also broken, police said.
• Three were charged following a Lockport police call to a large group fight in the parking lot of the United Auto Workers Hall on Walnut Street. Police said at least 100 people were yelling and screaming following a graduation party and that officers told those involved to go home. Cornell
B. Johnson Jr., 19, of Coomer Road, Newfane, and Jason E. Spivey, 20, of Hawley Street, were both charged with disorderly conduct. Jermaine
R. Webster, 28, of Vine Street, was charged with menacing and criminal mischief.
June 30
• A Medina woman was found “highly intoxicated” and uncooperative as she was walking down Coleman Road in Barker just after 4 a. m., said sheriff’s deputies. Lenore E. Fletcher, 54, of Glenwood Avenue, was charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. Deputies said they offered to drive the woman home, but she became aggressive and then attempted to pull away from officers when she was charged. Deputies said Fletcher originally gave her name as Dory, but gave her full and correct name when she was put into a patrol car.
• A 46-year-old Orchard Park woman told Niagara Falls police that she parked in the valet area in the 300 block of Sixth Street and went to the Seneca Niagara Casino at 1:15 p. m., but then realized she had left $500 in the car. The woman said she went back to grab it and the money was gone, as well as $2,000 in Canadian funds. Casino staff said an unknown employee parked the car. The case is now under investigation.
• Two vehicles were destroyed by fire in a parking lot in the 4600 block of Hyde Park Boulevard at 2:20 a. m., Niagara Falls police said. The owner of a Chevy Tahoe said he arrived home from a car wash and noticed smoke. He said when he put the vehicle into reverse and it burst into flames. The Tahoe, valued at $6,500, was destroyed. A nearby 1997 Oldsmobile had heat damage to a side quarter panel door and a bumper had $250 worth of damage. The cause is under investigation, police said.
• Keith W. Reid III, 19, of Jackson Street, Lockport, was charged by sheriff’s deputies with petit larceny following a reported theft at Wal-Mart on South Transit Road in Lockport. Reid, a store employee, was in custody after security said they caught him taking a car battery and two oil filters with a total value $56.84. Reid told security that he had taken the battery a week ago and the oil filters two weeks ago, deputies said.
• Two Niagara Falls men were charged in a parking lot narcotics investigation in the 6600 block of Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls police said. The driver, Joseph L. Burton, 18, of Ely Avenue, was charged with disorderly conduct, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and felony tampering with evidence and Taj Young, 18, of Dudley Avenue, was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Police said Burton was aggressive and profane and was found when booking with a hidden narcotics patch and a bag with 12 smaller bags of marijuana. Young turned over a two bags of marijuana and was ticketed and released, according to reports.
• A 44-year-old Crescent Drive man told Niagara Falls police that someone siphoned approximately 20 gallons of gas, valued at $100, from his Ford Explorer, while parked in the driveway.
