This Week in Stupid Crime

Gun, drugs in Traffic Stop

It was about 2:30 a.m. one morning last week on Niagara Falls Boulevard when an alert Niagara Falls Police Department patrolman noticed an SUV going in the oppositedirection run a red light. The cop made a U-turn and gave chase. The driver of the SUV pulled over in the parking lot of McDonald's restaurant.

The driver of the vehicle, Cody Rolfe, 19, rolled down the window, allowing a cloud of marijuana smoke to billow out into the officer's face. There was another man inthe passenger seat and a woman in the back, but they refused to give any more than their first names, Charles and Taylor.

The cop took Rolfe's license, registration and insurance card back to his cruiser. There were no wants or warrants, but the officer called for backup anyway. You can'tbe too careful.

The occupants of the vehicle refused to unlock the doors and get out when the officer asked them to, and soon additional units rolled up on the scene. Rolfe got out ofthe car and was handcuffed, at which time he unleashed a torrent of obscenities toward the officer.

The passengers in the vehicle, Charles and Taylor, turned out to be Charles Jackson, 18, and Taylor Kilmer, 19. They were handcuffed as well.

Officers searched the vehicle and came up with a large amount of marijuana, $72 in cash and an old Smith & Wesson revolver. The trio was charged with possession ofmarijuana and a firearm, and Rolfe was further charged with running the red light.

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Jerky is meat that has been trimmed of fat, cut into strips, heavily salted to prevent bacteria from developing on the meat before the moisture has been removed through drying which in turn prevents spoilage. You can make it yourself or buy it at stores readymade. Stealing it however may be inadvisable.

 

Jerk steals jerky

John William Gates, 49, of 1612 Eighth St., is a big strapping fellow, standing 6' 2" tall and weighing all of 210 pounds. And he just loves beef jerky. Can't getenough of it. It's almost as though he's obsessed with beef jerky and, like most obsessions, Gates' worked out badly for him.

One night last week, he found himself over at the 7-Eleven store on Hyde Park Boulevard. He hadn't even really been thinking about beef jerky, but when he saw theplastic wrapped sticks of flavored meat byproducts attractively arranged in a cardboard display box near the cash register, all reason left him.

His obsession took over.

Like a man possessed, he scooped up an incredible $169 worth of the low priced treats and stuffed them into his black bubble jacket in full view of the startledcashier.

As soon as Gates left the store, the cashier called the cops, who found the beef bandit wandering over on Ontario Avenue with his breath reeking of teriyaki. He wasarrested and the uneaten jerky was recovered.

After being positively identified by the store clerk, Gates was taken to headquarters and booked on a petty larceny charge without incident.

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Shots fired here

It wouldn't be a week in Niagara Falls if there wasn't some gunplay to report, and this past week was no exception. Police were called to the 1900 block of FallsStreet early Friday morning by a resident who heard the shots. Searching the scene, cops turned up several shell casings in the ever popular 9 mm Luger caliber,considered a bit underpowered by today's standards but a proud veteran of Germany's efforts in World War I and II.

The witness reported he saw the shooter get into a gold colored Plymouth and flee the scene down 19th Street, but police searching for the vehicle failed to find it.

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Meat Seller Arrested

City police were called to the 8900 block of posh Cayuga Drive one afternoon last week for a report of a man selling meat out of the back of his vehicle. On theirarrival, officers interviewed several area residents who said there was something kind of shifty about the guy, who was trying to peddle steaks, hamburger and variousother cuts of beef from the bed of his 16-year-old and rather beat up Dodge pickup.

After a brief search, cops located the meat man, and told him that a license was needed to sell food out of the back of a truck in the great city of Niagara Falls.

The man Justin Mueller, 29, of Clarendon, PA, said he worked for a Pennsylvania meat distributorship and didn't know. When police ran his driver's license, it turnedout that Mueller was wanted on an old fugitive from justice beef down in Chautauqua County.

Officials there said they were willing to extradite Mueller, who had failed to make a court appearance on a drunk driving rap. He was arrested and taken toheadquarters for booking. His vehicle was towed. The fate of the meat is unknown.

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86ed From Casino

When you've got to go, you've got to go.

Kenneth Sommer, 64, of York Street learned that lesson the hard way last week at the Seneca Niagara Casino. City police said a highly intoxicated Sommer refused toleave the casino after being asked to by security guards, even going so far as to become verbally abusive towards them.

Cops were called, and Sommer continued in his tirade. He was handcuffed and taken down to the station on a charge of criminal trespass, which he will answer in citycourt at a later date.

Once he was safely ensconced in a jail cell, Somers was to cause even more bother. A taxi cab driver, one Mansoor Syed, told police he picked up a drunk guy with acouple of suitcases and took him to the casino, where he was told to wait, which he did, for two hours.

The fare turned out to be Sommer, who couldn't return to his waiting cab because he was arguing with Seneca Niagara security and getting arrested by city police.

The tab for the cab was $80, and Sommer told officers to pay the man with money from his wallet, now in police custody.

Perhaps one day, those who frequent the casino will come to understand that the odds are stacked completely against them.