NIAGARA FALLS

Quick trip to the store turns ugly

A 24th Street woman told police her home was burglarized after she drove with a man to the store Sunday afternoon.

The 31-year-old woman said she ran out to a Military Road store with a man about 5 p.m. When she got to the store, she ran in to return an item and left the man in the running car.

After returning her item, the woman said she left the store and found the man — and her car were gone.

The woman said she took a cab home and when she got there found her car in the driveway and her front door wide open. There was no sign of the man inside. An X-Box 360 and four games, valued at $600, were also gone.

The woman told police she thinks the man lives somewhere on Ninth Street.



TOWN OF LOCKPORT

Workers detained after harassment call

Three Hispanic workers were taken into custody Saturday by the U.S. Customs/Border Patrol for being in the United States illegally.

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Department responded to a wage dispute at a house construction site on Rebecca Drive. A sub-contractor for Ryan Homes was allegedly pushed by a worker who was upset over wages he claimed he was owed.

Three other workers who were hanging drywall were interviewed, but the language barrier made it difficult to do so. The Border Patrol was called and Supervisor Chris Griffiths and agent Sal Caccamo detained and took Francisco A. Monzon, 30, and Oscar Vasques-Canales, 28, of Hyattsville, Md. and Jose Mauricio Pereira-Santos, 23, unknown address, into custody.

The sub-contractor from Quarryville, Pa., did not want to pursue charges against the worker who allegedly pushed him and who had proper paperwork.



Niagara Falls

• CHARGED: Two women were arrested after staff at a Military Road department store said the pair tried to walk out without paying for nearly $300 in merchandise. Brittani N. Berfield, 22, Lockport, and Essence E. Hobbs, 17, 620 24th St., Apt. 1, were charged with petit larceny. Store staff said one of the women had $120.20 in items in her purse while the other had $137.88 in merchandise in her purse.

• ASSAULT: Police were called to an apartment complex on the 600 block of Fourth Street about 12:30 p.m. Sunday for a reported assault. The owner of the building had made the call. They said a man being evicted from the building had choked another tenant. Officers said the woman appeared to have been severely choked and she told them she had almost lost consciousness during the attack. It was unclear what had provoked it. Tenants said it was related to a long-standing issue in the building. The suspect ran off before police arrived. The victim was transported to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.

• BURGLARY: A 25-year-old Cleveland Avenue resident told police someone ransacked their home while they were at a party Saturday afternoon. The resident said he home was ransacked and a Playstation 3, a flat screen TV and a cell phone were taken. Officers followed a trail of footprints in the snow to Lockport Street and South Avenue but could not locate any suspects.

• BURGLARY: A 76-year-old LaSalle Avenue resident told police that sometime between 3:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday someone broke into their home through a rear door. Some papers were thrown to the ground and a $25 cell phone charger was taken, the resident said.

• THEFT: A 38-year-old 71st Street resident told police that someone entered their ’02 Pontiac Grand Am and took their wallet containing $300 from the glove box. Police noted that profanity was also written on the driver’s side door and seat.

• THEFT: A 55-year-old 71st Street resident reported that someone took two scaffold planks valued at $900 sometime between Thursday and Friday. The planks had been chained to a gas meter but someone used a bolt cutter to cut the chain.

• THEFT: A 22-year-old Arcade woman told police she left her purse in the trunk of her unlocked car in the parking lot of a hotel on the 6600 block of Niagara Falls Boulevard about 3 a.m. Sunday morning. The purse was gone in the morning. The woman said it contained personal papers and credit cards which were canceled.