PORTER

Two dogs die in Saturday morning fire

A babysitter and two children escaped from a fire that engulfed a Youngstown Road home Saturday, but two toy poodles did not make it out alive.

Sheriff’s deputies say a 64-year-old woman was babysitting two children when she plugged in a vacuum cleaner and found the sockets would not work.

The woman said she went into the basement to check the fuses, and when she came back upstairs, she saw smoke.

The woman told the children to get outside and call 911. The children, a boy and a girl, ran to a neighbor’s house to call for help.

The Youngstown and Ransomville fire departments responded to the scene. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames, the report said.

The poodles died in the fire and one of the children was treated at the scene for minor breathing problems, the report said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.



Niagara Falls

• ROBBERY: Police are looking for three suspects in an armed robbery in the area of Ninth and Falls streets. A 29-year-old man approached an officer there at 5:30 p.m. Monday and told him he had been walking west on Falls Street when a silver Chrysler with Massachusetts license plates pulled up with there men inside it. One of the men pointed a small silver handgun at the victim while a second man got out of the vehicle and took $273 and the victim’s leather jacket.

• ARREST: A Falls woman was arrested after a shoplifting incident at the Tops supermarket in the 1000 block of Portage Road. Shardah L. Nicholas, 19, 649 Ashland Ave., was charged with petit larceny. A store security officer said Nicholas entered the market at 10:45 a.m. Monday, took a CD and two magazines and walked out without paying for the items.

• BURGLARY: Officers are looking into a burglary in the 9000 block of Niagara Falls Boulevard. A contractor told police that sometime between 6 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Monday someone broke into a storage shed and three trailers by forcing the locks. Four rolls of aluminum and six brass water meters were taken, along with a quantity of tools.

City of Lockport

• LEWDNESS: John P. Briggs Jr., 31, 144 Locust St., Apt. 1, was charged Sunday evening with public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a child. A Blackley Court woman told police she was walking with her two daughters, ages 13 and 14, past Briggs’ house. Briggs allegedly pulled his shorts down, exposing himself, and yelled an obscenity. A neighbor also reportedly said he heard the noise and looked through the bushes at Briggs’ home and saw him exposing himself. Briggs was held in lieu of $300 bail.

Town of Lockport

• BURGLARY: A Badger Drive man reported Sunday that sometime since Thursday, someone entered his home through an unlocked rear window and stole several items. The stolen items included a Nintendo Wii system with games, a Nintendo DS system with games, a jug filled with loose change, a gold wedding band, a bottle of Xanax and five bottles of liquor, together worth $3,440.

• BURGLARY: A West Jackson Street man reported Saturday that sometime during the day, someone entered his house and stole several items, including sneakers, hydrocodone and carisoprodol pills, a gold necklace, a watch, a backpack and a ring, together worth $2,042. The suspect reportedly left behind a camolfauge hat and two pairs of shoes. Deputies found a line of a white powder substance, believed to be coffee creamer, on the countertop.

• ASSAULT: An Iroquois Drive man reported Saturday that while he was staying with friends at a Lincoln Place apartment, several acquaintances kicked in the door to the apartment and attacked him. The man said he was sleeping on the sofa about 3 a.m. when the men entered the apartment and began punching him. The men fled when the man’s friends came out of their bedrooms, the report said. The man suffered a small laceration to his right ear and left foot, as well as minor bruising to his arms and legs. There was a large hole in the door where it had been kicked in, the report said. Damage was estimated at $250.

• LARCENY: A Pine Street man reported Sunday that overnight, while his motorcycle was parked on Dysinger Road, someone stole the battery covers and tried to steal the mirrors from the motorcycle. The battery covers are worth $200.

n LARCENY: A Fox Circle man reported Sunday that overnight, someone entered two of his cars and stole several items, including an iPod charger, CDs, loose change and a mailbox key. The items are worth about $200.