The Buffalo Chronicle
Police Beat
-
Buffalo police overtime to cover minimum staffing jumped 65% in a year, and new officers are two years away
Records show minimum-staffing overtime hours rose 65% last fiscal year. The commissioner blames a hiring gap, while the comptroller’s payroll data show overtime rising even when staffing grew. Here are the numbers,…
-
Gendron jury selection enters its fifth week as a juror is excused over the death penalty
Fifty prospective jurors have qualified toward a pool of 70 in the federal death penalty trial of the Tops shooter, with the trial set to start Dec. 7. One woman was excused…
-
The Old Pink’s arsonist gets five years. The Allen Street lots the fires left behind are still waiting on a plan
John W. Burns was sentenced to 60 months for the 2024 fire that destroyed the Old Pink. Court records lay out the texts that helped convict him, while Roche Development, which bought…
-
Halton-Pope moves to write Buffalo’s limits on ICE cooperation into city law
A Common Council resolution would direct Corporation Counsel to codify Mayor Sean Ryan’s January executive order barring city resources from federal civil immigration enforcement, with quarterly reports to the Council.
-
Gendron jury selection enters week three as a fatal taxi crash brings an indictment
Gendron’s lawyers tell prospective jurors the case is about life or death. Also: a DWI homicide indictment in Kensington-Grider, two sentences for Buffalo killings, a Hamburg burglary verdict and an Election Day…
-
Four charged with murder in alleged plot to kill a witness, as federal gun case and day care shutdown round out the week
An indictment accuses five Buffalo residents of conspiring to kill a murder-trial witness. The week also brought a federal gun-trafficking complaint, Timon Street arrests and a state shutdown of a Ransomville day…
-
Woodhill Capital’s president admits to mail fraud as records detail a $54 million collapse
Richard Teplitsky pleaded guilty Friday to mail fraud in the collapse of Woodhill Capital, which federal prosecutors say took $54.4 million from about 200 investors. Court records show how the equipment-lease notes…
-
Woman shoved by Buffalo’s deputy police commissioner files notice of claim, halting Internal Affairs review
The woman First Deputy Police Commissioner Craig Macy shoved to the ground on Chippewa Street in July has filed a notice of claim against Buffalo, pausing the department’s Internal Affairs review of…
-
Buffalo officer charged with stalking ex-girlfriend had been investigated by Internal Affairs 13 times
Officer Benjamin Coughlin pleaded not guilty to stalking and harassment and is suspended without pay. His disciplinary record shows a suspension, three reprimands and two open excessive-force cases.
-
Buffalo’s police overtime keeps climbing, and the city’s own auditors say staffing alone doesn’t explain it
Buffalo police overtime topped $17 million last year and has grown by more than a third in five years. The union blames a 100-officer shortage, but the comptroller’s numbers show overtime rising…
-
Shootings are falling in most of New York’s hardest-hit cities. Buffalo and Niagara Falls are going the other way
Shootings with injuries are down 16% across the state’s GIVE cities this year, but Buffalo is up 14% and Niagara Falls has nearly doubled, state data show. Most of Buffalo’s increase came…
-
North Tonawanda traffic stop that ended in Border Patrol arrests is under state review
The attorney general’s office is reviewing a complaint over an Oct. 7 North Tonawanda traffic stop that ended with Border Patrol arresting three roofing workers. The police chief says it was a…
-
No charges in Cheektowaga Flock camera misuse, leaving discipline and oversight as the open questions
Erie County prosecutors won’t charge three Cheektowaga police employees who used Flock cameras to track a co-worker for months. Residents now want answers on discipline, audits and who watches the system.
-
Tops gunman’s lawyers say Western New York’s jury lists shortchange Black residents as death-penalty jury selection begins
Payton Gendron’s lawyers moved to dismiss his federal indictment the day before jury selection, arguing Black residents are systematically underrepresented in the district’s jury lists. Here is what they must prove, and…
-
Buffalo-to-Jamestown drug ring case ends in pleas, with sentences far below the maximums
All seven defendants in the attorney general’s fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine case pleaded guilty. The alleged leader got 10 years after facing up to 24, and two defendants got probation.
-
Parolee pleads guilty to attempted possession of an illegal gun
Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 34-year-old Shawn A. Saunders of Buffalo pleaded guilty this morning before Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio to one count of Attempted…
-
Jury finds Frank Bredt guilty of murdering girlfriend by setting her on fire
This week 33-year-old Frank J. Bredt, Jr. of Buffalo guilty of two counts of Murder in the Second Degree (Class “A” felonies). The jury rendered their decision late this morning after 4…
-
Cheektowaga woman arraigned on felony for selling fake vaccine leaflet to undercover trooper
This week 24-year-old Kaiyah S. Heinrich of the Town of Cheektowaga appeared this morning before Cheektowaga Town Court Justice David M. Stevens for a felony hearing. Ms. Heinrich was arraigned in Clarence Town…
-
Teens indicted on felony charges in Metro Rail attack, as death remains under investigation
Two 16-year-old males from Buffalo were arraigned this week before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, a designated Youth Part judge, for their alleged involvement in an assault that occurred earlier this…
-
Adriane Roman, 37, Tonawanda man arraigned on felony drug charges after Sheriffs uncover 1.5 kilos of cocaine
Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 37-year-old Adriane D. Roman of Town of Tonawanda was arraigned this afternoon before Tonawanda Town Court Justice J. Mark Gruber on the following…
