Published: June 04, 2008 08:59 pm      

BLOTTER: Police reports published June 5

NIAGARA FALLS

Buffalo homicide suspect picked up

Dennis Ray Washington, 46, 1003 Fairfield Ave., was picked up by police about 6:30 a.m. while walking near 11th Street and Niagara Avenue.

Washington, who was wanted by Buffalo Police for questioning in regards to a homicide investigation, was turned over to BPD and later charged in regards to the stabbing and beating of Kevin Smith, which took place yesterday on Chenango Street on Buffalo’s West Side.

Washington, who is from Niagara Falls, has a lengthy record of arrests in the city. He was stopped after NFPD detectives were asked by Buffalo Police to check for his possible whereabouts. Washington was stopped by C Shift Officers Phil Tripi, Gregory Spagnola and Michael Tarnowski.



Cab robber arrested

Falls police caught a man early Wednesday morning who had attempted to rob a city cab driver with a hammer on 17th Street.

Colum P. Black, 39, 9807 Porter Road, Apt. 110, was charged with first-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal mischief and third-degree criminal trespass about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to Falls police.

The driver told police he had picked Black up at Cruisers Bar on 98th Street and as they arrived on 17th Street near Pine Avenue, Black reached up and grabbed him by the throat while holding a hammer in the other hand. The driver was able to reach his radio and call for help as he struggled with Black.

The driver also eventually pulled the hammer away from Black, who at that point, the report said, panicked and tried to jump out of the still-moving cab but the back doors wouldn’t open. Black instead jumped into the front seat and went out the passenger-side door.

After being called to the scene, police searched the area and eventually found Black hiding in a garage he had broken into behind the 700 block of 17th Street.



Another crack house raided

Falls narcotics detectives as well as members of the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a Fourth Street crack house on Wednesday afternoon.

A continuation of a crackdown on city crack houses, Narcotics Division Capt. Morris Shamrock said the 3:30 p.m. raid was initiated by several neighborhood complaints.

“It’s our 10th crack house in the past 30 days,” he added.

Inside the home police found an ounce of cocaine worth about $1,200, according to Detective Shawn Larrabee, who, along with Detective John Galie, served as a lead investigator.

A resident of the home, John W. Crumpton, 30, 628 Fourth St., Apt. 2, was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a B-felony.

“He was supplying powdered cocaine to people all over Western New York,” Larrabee said Wednesday night.



RANSOMVILLE

Another suspicious vehicle reported

A Lockport man told sheriff’s deputies Tuesday that his daughter has seen a suspicious pickup following her on several occasions in the past six months while she was walking on New Road in Ransomville.

The girl said the white pickup would drive past her slowly, then turn around in a driveway, and the driver would continue to watch her walking, the report said.

The girl said she’d last seen the pickup about three weeks ago.

The truck is described as an older white truck with rust around the wheels. The driver was described as an older white man with a beard.



PENDLETON

Missing children found after brief search

Two small children who disappeared from their Oakwood Drive home Tuesday afternoon were found a short distance away.

The children’s mother called 911 about 4:55 p.m. to report the children were missing from the yard. She told sheriff’s deputies she had left the boy and girl, playing in the yard while she went inside for a few minutes.

The woman said she searched the area for 20 minutes before calling 911.

Deputies responded to the scene and had just begun to check the house when an Irish Road man called the sheriff’s department to report two small children and their dog had entered his property from the woods behind his house.

Deputies brought the children back to their home, about three-fourths of a mile away.



NEWFANE

Bowling league reports missing funds

A local bowling league has reported over $1,700 in prize money is missing from its bank account.

The president and vice-president of the Tuesday Night Mixers, who bowl at Allie Brandt’s on Lincoln Avenue, reported the money missing Wednesday.

They told deputies they learned at their end-of-the-year banquet that the prize money given out to the teams did not add up to the amount of money the teams paid throughout the year.

After looking into the complaint, they said they found the league’s funds to be light $1,707.65.

The money was taken sometime between Oct. 9 and April 22, and there may also be money missing from the previous year, the report said.



Niagara Falls

• CHARGED: Daniel W. Lounsbury, 49, 516 Eighth St., was charged with petit larceny about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to Falls police. Lounsbury was caught taking steel supports from city-owned barricades. He told police he planned to sell them to a scrap yard.

• CHARGED: Tamara M. Pryor, 28, 1135 Ontario Ave., Apt. 5, was charged with disorderly conduct about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to city police. Pryor was charged after refusing police requests to get out of the road at 17th Street and Pine Avenue.

• CHARGED: Elijah E. Little, 20, 1357 Linwood Ave., was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and two traffic infractions about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to police. Little was stopped on the 1500 block of LaSalle Avenue for driving with a cracked windshield. A search turned up marijuana and hydrocodone pills. Little was also wanted on a warrant out of the city, the report said.

• THEFT: Security at DuPont, 2600 Buffalo Ave., told police Wednesday that sometime overnight someone took one $750 copper bus bar and tried to steal another. A hole was cut in the fence to take the item.

• THEFT: Police received a report that a ’94 Dodge Caravan that had been sitting in a parking lot adjacent to the YMCA on Portage Road for several months was stolen. The person making the report said the van did not run and would have had to be towed away.

• INCIDENT: School officials at LaSalle Prepatory School, 7432 Buffalo Ave., turned a PlayStation Portable over to police that had been confiscated from a student and contained an image of an “assault weapon.” The device was turned over to juvenile detectives.

Pendleton

• DWI: Patrick C. Schultz, 38, 39 Pace Crest Court, West Seneca, was charged Wednesday with DWI and speeding after a 12:37 a.m. traffic stop on South Transit Road. Schultz admitted to sheriff’s deputies to having six beers at Artpark and failed several field sobriety tests. He registered a 0.13 percent blood alcohol content on a breath test, the report said.

City of Lockport

• HARASSMENT: Kristen Louise Wallace, 26, 10 Bristol Ave., was charged Wednesday morning with second-degree harassment. Wallace allegedly went to a Cottage Street home Tuesday and demanded money from a woman there. The woman said she told Wallace she did not have any money, and Wallace went through her purse, the report said. Wallace allegedly grabbed the woman, punched her in the face several time and choked her. The woman suffered a large bump on her head and red marks on her neck, the report said. Wallace was held without bail.

• ASSAULT: Clifford A. Davis, 46, 164 Church St., was charged Tuesday night with third-degree assault, third-degree menacing and endangering the welfare of a child. Davis’ son, a juvenile, told police he got into an argument with Davis, who was intoxicated. Davis allegedly pushed the boy into the dining room and raised a fist to strike him. He allegedly pucked the boy up and threw him into the coffee table in the living room. Other family members broke up the fight, the report said. The boy reportedly suffered several scratches to his right arm and neck. Davis was held without bail.

• RESISTING: Curtis T. Cogar, 17, 9261 Coleman Road, Barker, was charged Tuesday afternoon with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Officers were assisting the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department in the search for a runaway from Wyndham Lawn Home and found Cogar on the Villella Bridge. When officers told him he was going back to Wyndham Lawn, Cogar allegedly became combattive and had to be physically taken into custody. He allegedly refused to cooperate with the booking procedure. He was held without bail.

• TRESPASS: Robert M. Solovey, 26, 244 Church St., Apt. 2, was charged Tuesday morning with fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree criminal trespass and resisting arrest. A Waterman Street woman told officers Solovey came to her home and began pounding on the front door demanding some of his property back. She called 911, and before officers arrived, Solovey left the area, the report said. Officers found there was the screen door had been damaged. Solovey was found at his residence. He allegedly refused to cooperate and turned toward officers in an aggressive manner, and officers gained control of him and escorted him from the home. The Lockport Fire Department treated Solovey for small cuts above his left eye and right ear.

Town of Lockport

• ID THEFT: A West Jackson Street couple reported Monday that their federal tax refund of $866 was frozen because someone in The Bronx used the man’s social security number to file taxes.

• LARCENY: A High Street man told deputies someone broke into his car Tuesday night while it was parked on Crown Drive and stole a bottle of hydrocodone pills and a 7-pound can of silver coins worth about $200.

• VANDALISM: An Akron Road man reported Wednesday morning that someone broke into his trailer nd stole an AM/FM cassette stereo worth $150. The damage to the trailer was estimated at $600.

Newfane

• VANDALISM: A West Avenue woman reported Monday that sometime between 9:05 p.m. and 9:25 p.m., someone smashed the back window of her 1998 Plymouth, causing $250 in damage.

Somerset

n VANDALISM: A Lake Road man reported Tuesday evening that another man had smashed the taillights on his car with a sledgehammer. The victim told deputies the man was at his house and became intoxicated, and the two got into an argument because the man was touching the victim’s wife inappropriately. A short while later, the man reportedly used a sledgehammer to break the lens caovers on the victim’s 2000 Chevrolet Impala, causing about $340 in damages. Deputies spoke to the man, who admitted to causing the damage and agreed to pay for repairs. Deputies told the man he has two weeks to pay, or charges may be filed, the report said.