BUFFALO

Falls mail clerk accused of theft

A mail clerk from Niagara Falls is accused of stealing gift cards and cash from greeting cards mailed from the post office where she was assigned.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo says the thefts were between December 2007 and the end of April, Nadine Goodwin, 30, worked at a Cheektowaga post office.

The investigation began when postal customers reported receiving greeting cards that had been opened and emptied.

Goodwin pleaded not guilty to a three-count indictment Monday and is due back in court in November. She has no telephone listing and could not be reached for comment. Her appointed attorney, Joseph Agro, did not immediately return a call Tuesday.



NEW YORK

Crack down on unemployment insurance fraud

Forty-five people in the Western New York and the Finger Lakes regions were arrested and charged with multiple felonies for attempting to defraud the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) program on Tuesday.

Most of those arrested collected UI benefits while they were earning a paycheck. The arrests were touted by State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith as a direct result of a new program that emphasizes improved detection of fraud through data matching, more proactive investigations and better coordination with local law enforcement and prosecution agencies.

Eighteen arrests were made in Niagara County. Those charged locally and the amount they are alleged to have collected illegally include:

• James Wingo, 550 Seventh St. — $4,481

• Christopher Ham, 1191 Haeberle Plaza, — $2,468

• Thomas Head, 1310 South Ave. — $6,690

• Lisa Lobianco, 536 17th St. —$2,718

• Jacques Meness, 5380 Chew Road, Sanborn — $3,240

• Mack Boler Jr., 1035 Niagara Avenue, No. 1 — $3,498

• Mary Adams, 1637 Cleveland Ave., — $2,467



CITY OF LOCKPORT

Four arrested in alleged stolen car

Four people were arrested Monday night after police found them with drugs inside a stolen car on Lock Street.

A Youngstown woman told police Saturday that she was at a home on Hamilton Drive when her boyfriend, William C. Rooney, 40, 117 Elliott St., Youngstown, took her car without permission. The woman said she was having dinner and drinks with friends and went to the bathroom. When she came back, Rooney was gone, the report said.

The woman’s friends told her they had given Rooney money to go to the liquor store and he had taken her car. He never came back with the car, a 2008 Honda Accord, worth $21,000.

The woman told police that she had several items inside the car, including $150 in cash, several checks, two leather purses, a wallet, a make-up bag and about $100 worth of makeup, together worth about $1,800, the report said.

On Monday, officers on patrol on Lock Street spotted the car parked by the curb with the engine running. Officers pulled behind the car and activated the emergency lights. One of the passengers, later identified as Coco N. Spencer, 25, 111 Cottage St., Apt. 24, got out of the car and began to walk away. Police called her back.

Meanwhile, officers interviewed the other occupants of the car — Lanika N. Reed, 26, 111 Cottage St., Apt. 24; and Darius R. Dix, 17, 1325 Ashland Ave., Niagara Falls.

Inside the car, officers reportedly found a bag of hydrocodone pills in the center console. They also said they found marijuana in Dix’s shoe.

Officers then spotted Rooney on the porch of a nearby home and took him into custody.

Rooney was charged with third- and fourth-degree grand larceny, third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

Spencer, Reed and Dix were each charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle and possessing a controlled substance outside its original container.



Niagara Falls

• CHARGED: Victoria R. Gilmer, 23, 4C Center Ct., was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance about 8:45 p.m. Monday, according to Falls police. Gilmer was caught with three Hydrocodone pills after a traffic stop on the 400 block of 19th Street.

• CHARGED: Cameron J. Velazquez, 16, Lancaster, was charged with petit larceny about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to Falls police. She was arrested after she was caught trying to take $27 worth of AMP energy drink from Tops, 1000 Portage Road, the report said.

• CHARGED: Suani Carrera, 22, 427 19th St., faces a restricted use of alcohol charge after police spotted her walking down the 400 block of 19th Street with an open 22-ounce bottle of Steel Reserve malt liquor.

• BURGLARY: Residents reported two apartments in a building on the 500 block of 16th Street were burglarized Tuesday morning. The resident of the lower apartment said someone broke in through a screen door and took $420, a leather coat and sneakers. The suspect then went upstairs and took $450, a diamond necklace and a pair of shoes.

Wheatfield

• DISORDERLY: Thomas Glenn Sternin, 20, 3088 Hess Road, Appleton, was charged early Sunday with disorderly conduct. Deputies responded to Shawnee Road about 12:07 a.m. for a report of a loud party. Deputies broke up the party, making sure people were leaving with designated drivers. Sternin was intoxicated and kept talking to a deputy, though he was asked to move on several times. He came back and argued with deputies several times. When he came back a fourth time, he was placed under arrest.

• DWI: Christopher Michael Morris, 33, 19 Progress St., Chandler, N.C., was charged Sunday night with driving while intoxicated, driving in the center lane, driving without valid insurance and driving with a suspended registration. After an 11:30 p.m. traffic stop on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Deputies said they smelled alcoholic beverage on Morris’ breath and noted he had glassy eyes. Morris told them he was coming from the Laundromat and that he’d had two beers. Morris failed two field sobriety tests and a check of the vehicle’s registration showed it had been revoked for having no insurance. Morris began arguing with deputies, the report said, claiming he did have insurance and called them “(expletive) Yankees” and “(expletive) wannabes.” He refused to take a chemical test for blood alcohol content and was transported to the Niagara County Jail.

City of Lockport

• BURGLARY: Angela M. Berardi, 35, 158 S. Transit St., left, was charged Monday afternoon with second-degree burglary and petit larceny. Berardi allegedly stole a crystal chess set, a Super Nintendo and four silver necklaces from a Garden Street home Sept. 14. The items are worth $350. The victim told police his door handle was broken and could not be locked. Berardi allegedly admitted to having a part in the burglary. She was held without bail and is due today in Lockport City Court.

• DRUGS: Leon P. Johnson, 24, 409 Washburn St., front, was charged Monday afternoon with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree bail jumping. Officers stopped to talk to Johnson on Aug. 7 when they reportedly saw him parked more than 12 inches from the curb, talking to a man outside the car. Johnson allegedly said he did not have a license, and a database check found his license had been suspended twice, the report said. Officers reportedly saw a glass pipe on the back seat. The pipe was sent to the county lab for testing, and it reportedly came back positive for the presence of cocaine. Officers arrested Johnson Monday on Washburn Street. He was held without bail and is due today in Lockport City Court.

Town of Lockport

• BURGLARY: A Dysinger Road man told deputies he returned home about 10:30 p.m. Sunday to find his apartment door ajar. The man said $200 in cash was missing from a kitchen drawer. Deputies found pry marks on the door and lock, and a crowbar was found in the living room, the report said. Damage to the door was estimated at $200. A neighbor told deputies she’d seen four men hanging out in front of the apartment.

• FRAUD: A Dysinger Road man reported Monday that he believes his mother has opened several accounts in his name. The man has received three letters from collections agencies requesting he pay the balances on a Chase Bank USA account for $1,833.55, a Dish Network account for $403.19 and a Capital One Bank account for $801.81.

• BURGLARY: A Chestnut Drive woman reported Monday that someone entered her home and stole $340 in cash. The money was hidden underneath several flowers in her dining room, the report said. The suspect apparently used a shovel to break a window and enter the home, the report said.

• STOLEN: A Dysinger Road man reported Monday that someone stole his 1982 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, worth $1,000, from the parking lot behind his apartment building.