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Fabian Carter Should be Nominated to Stupid Criminals Hall of Fame

By Mike Hudson

Fabian Carter: If you see him in your neighborhood, watch your car...

He might not be Public Enemy Number One, but 44-year-old Fabian LaVelle Carter has earned himself a unique place in the notorious criminal history of Niagara Falls.

Having been arrested more than 140 times might not seem like all that much but, for Carter, it's pretty much all he's got.

Larceny, burglary, assault with a weapon, grand theft auto, narcotics, domestic violence, disorderly conduct, trespassing, shoplifting and bicycle theft - Carter has been picked up for all of them and more, (In most cases - more than once).

Thus far, being repeatedly handcuffed and locked in a cell doesn't seem to faze Carter, who is ever ready to sally forth and commit another petty crime that will land him back in the hoosegow.

His record dates back 24 years, to just before his twentieth birthday. Most recently, he's been arrested four times in the past two months, twice for driving without a license, and twice for grand auto theft, , which seems to be sort of a specialty of his.

According to his rap sheet, Carter is often picked up for being a "suspicious person." Well, yeah! A reasonable person would say that a guy who is either committing a crime or has just committed a crime or is planning his next crime might be considered suspicious.

He is also frequently arrested on warrants for failing to show up to court, essentially racking up two arrests for whatever low level crime he committed in the first place.

One thing is certain. When it comes to committing crimes, Fabian LaVelle Carter just isn't very good at it. He's even managed to get himself thrown in jail for charges unrelated to those that got him incarcerated in the first place - no small feat.

It would be almost funny but it isn't - not to the scores of people Carter victimized over the years, not to the police officers, judges, probation department personnel and jail guards who have to deal with the aftermath of his lunacy and not to the taxpayer who is left to pick up the tab.

And, while the sheer number of his arrests make him somewhat unusual, Niagara Falls is filled with guys like Carter - guys for whom an unlocked car door is like an engraved invitation and who think that violence is an acceptable problem solving strategy.

Taken together, they constitute a lawless element that contributes mightily to the misery index of those trying to make an honest living in Niagara Falls, that dwindling population for whom rap sheets and welfare checks aren't a part of everyday reality.

The criminal justice system just isn't equipped to properly deal with individuals like Carter, for whom arrest and incarceration serve as no deterrent at all.

 

 


 

 

A Sampling of Fabian Carter Arrests

 

Born on 1/29/1970, Fabian Lavelle Carter is 5'8" and 205 pounds. He is off to a good start this year with three arrests already in 2014. His rap sheet is almost 3,000 words and getting longer.

Samples of reports of his arrests include the following:

Last month, Carter was spotted entering a pickup truck he did not own at 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday evening, in the 1800 block of Niagara Avenue. Once inside the truck, Carter stole a GPS, a bottle of cologne, a hands-free earpiece, and 70 cents in pennies, according to police. Neighbors said they saw Carter, pulled him out of the truck and held him on the ground.

Carter reportedly said, "Call my cousin. He'll give you $100 if you let me go."

Carter was charged with petit larceny and third-degree criminal trespassing.

Last October, Carter pulled off a number of smash-and-grab car larcenies on Linwood and Cleveland avenues. Police found a brown colored brick in one car whose window he smashed. He got $4 in change from that vehicle. From another car whose window he shattered, he got a GPS.

Police have said that car break-in reports actually drop during the times when he is incarcerated and rise the moment he gets back on the streets.

In November, 2010, at about 6 a.m. on a Thursday morning, Carter, 40, was reported trying various car doors near 29th Street and South Avenue. Officers found him carrying a crack pipe, a GPS, 144 pennies, 15 nickels, 15 dimes and 11 quarters. When officers hit the home button on the GPS unit it showed an address other than Carter's. He was charged with second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

One day in November, 2008, appearing in the snow were footprints leading to every car in the neighborhood. The trail led police to Carter. He ran and officers chased him through six backyards. Carter grabbed a child's bike and tried to ride away in the snow before being stopped with a Taser. He had in his possession $40.62 in change, a Yahtzee game, cigarettes, chapstick, three lighters and a pocketknife.

At 10:12 on a Monday morning in 2007, Carter was reported as seen emerging from a known drug house on 13th Street. Upon being stopped by Police, he was found with one-and-a-half grams of crack cocaine in his possession.

Another time in 2007 Carter was arrested after leading police on a high-speed chase. He was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, unreasonable speed, reckless driving, failure to signal turn, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, failure to stop at a red light, second-degree criminal mischief and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Carter had crack cocaine in his possession at the time of his arrest.

 

Click here to see Fabian Carter's entire rap sheet in Niagara Falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Feb 18, 2014