LOCKPORT—An 18-year-old Town of Niagara man was granted youthful-offender status Wednesday for his role in a cigarette scam that cost the victim $4,000 last year.

The teenager had pleaded guilty to petit larceny and was placed on three years of probation by Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III. A co-defendant, John T. Billings Jr., 24, of 92nd Street, Niagara Falls, admitted to fourth-degree grand larceny but failed to appear for sentencing more than two months ago and is still at large, court officials said.

He and the teenager convinced a man Sept. 14 that they could sell him a large cache of untaxed smokes from the Tuscarora Indian Reservation, but took his money and delivered no cigarettes.