Staff Reports
PENDLETON
Driver reports masked man chasing school bus
A school bus driver in Pendleton reported a strange sight on Monday — a man chasing the bus down the road while wearing a ski mask.
A Ridge Road Express supervisor told deputies that a bus driver told her she was stopped at a stop sign on Aiken Road about 3:35 p.m. when a dark gray car stopped behind the bus. The driver said some of the children in the back of the bus started to shout, “Call the police!”
The driver looked out her window and saw a man with a white ski mask approaching the back of the bus.
The driver said she turned right onto Beach Ridge Road, and the man started to run after the bus, the report said.
As the bus was driving away, the gray car pulled up, and the man got in the car, the driver said.
Deputies interviewed some of the children on the bus, who said the driver of the car — who stayed in the vehicle while the other man ran after the bus — had his head sticking up through the sunroof and was wearing a goalie mask, which they described as a “Jason mask.”
Deputies followed the bus during its normal route on Tuesday, and the bus dropped off all the children without incident, the report said.
Niagara Falls
• ARREST: A Falls man was arrested after a shoplifting incident. Kenneth Longmire 42, 1041 Center Ave., was charged with petit larceny. Police said Longmire was caught as he tried to leave a convenience store at 12:56 p.m. Thursday in the 2300 block of Hyde Park Boulevard with two cases of beer, three packages of bacon and seven bottles of deodorant.
• THEFT: Police are investigating an SUV break-in in the 700 block of Whirlpool Avenue. A 54-year-old woman told officers that between 11:40 and 11:51 a.m. Thursday someone broke into her 2006 Chevy Suburban by smashing a passenger-side window. The victim said a purse was taken from the vehicle.
• BURGLARY: Officers are looking into a burglary in the 500 block of 76th Street. A 54-year-old man told police that sometime between 7 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday someone broke into his garage by forcing open a door. The victim said $5,100 hidden above a ceiling tile in the garage was taken.
• BURGLARY: Police are investigating a burglary in the 2900 block of Grand Avenue. A 77-year-old man told officers that sometime between 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday someone broke into his garage by prying off the lock. The victim said two snowblowers and a powerwasher were taken.
• BURGLARY: Officers are looking into a burglary in the 600 block of Walnut Avenue. A 49-year-old woman told police that sometime between midnight and 9:54 a.m. Thursday someone broke into her garage by forcing open a door. The victim said a lawnmower was taken.
Lewiston
• COUNTERFEIT: A clerk at Smokin Joes on Saunders Settlement Road reported Tuesday that a truck driver gave him a $100 bill as a deposit to activate the diesel pumps. The clerk immediately thought the bill might be counterfeit, so he ran it through a machine and tested it with a marker. Both tests showed the bill to be fake, and the clerk contacted the sheriff’s department. Deputies questioned the truck driver, a Canadian citizen, who said he got the money when he withdrew $2,000 from a bank in Thornhill, Ontario. He gave the clerk several other bills to check, and four of them also came up counterfeit, the report said. The U.S. Secret Service responded and seized the counterfeit bills.
City of Lockport
• DRUGS: Brian C. Malcomb, 23, 152 Cottage St., was charged Wednesday with fourth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. Malcomb allegedly sold a quantity of suboxone to an undercover Drug Task Force agent. He was held without bail and is due Monday in Lockport City Court.
• DRUGS: Rodriguez A. Bembo, 36, 649 Ashland Ave., Apt. 1, was charged Wednesday night with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and jaywalking. Officers responded to a report of possible drug activity on Green Street about 9 p.m. and reportedly saw Bembo walking in the roadway. Bembo reportedly gave officers permission to search him, and they reportedly found a small bag containing cocaine in his left coat pocket. Bembo was held in lieu of $250 bail and is due Monday in Lockport City Court.
• CONTEMPT: Scott A. Moreland, 35, 250 N. Transit St., Apt. 3, was charged Wednesday night with second-degree criminal contempt. Moreland allegedly violated a family court order. He was held without bail and is due Monday in Lockport City Court.
Town of Lockport
• LARCENY: A Tonawanda Creek Road man reported Thursday that on Monday morning, someone stole a Christmas decoration from his yard. The decoration, which featured two life-sized husky dogs pulling a sled, was worth about $200, the report said.
