Ryan Flynn Jailed Again as Cousin John Flynn Runs Unopposed
BUFFALO, N.Y. — On Tuesday, John Flynn will run for Town of Tonawanda supervisor.
No one is running against him.
His cousin Ryan Flynn will spend Election Day in jail.
Ryan Flynn, 32, has accused his cousin, former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, of sexually abusing him as a child. John Flynn has not been charged.
Ryan Flynn has been back in custody since August on a misdemeanor charge. According to Ryan Flynn, his bail is $50,000 cash or a $100,000 bond.
He returns to court Nov. 9.
THE FOREHEAD
In August, Ryan Flynn walked into an Amherst courtroom.
On his forehead were the words "John Flynn molested me."
He represented himself. His family says he spoke for an hour and 15 minutes about the alleged abuse. Then he turned toward the gallery. People took pictures.
He said he wrote the words because people kept posting his mugshots online and mocking him.
"So I wrote the truth on my forehead, which isn't illegal," he said.
After the hearing, he went back to jail.
According to family members, the new allegation concerns a text message Ryan Flynn sent to a friend of his sister. His sister has an order of protection against him that prohibits contact through third parties.
He also faces an older case, from May 2025, accusing him of violating Family Court orders by calling his sister's phone.
Ryan Flynn says the relevant order had been vacated. He also says the order number on the police report does not match the Family Court record. He says a judge raised his bail from zero to $50,000 cash or a $100,000 bond.
"I'm being held right now on $100,000 because she said I called her phone and said, 'You're ruining my life,'" he said.
Niagara County booked Ryan Flynn on Oct. 22 on a misdemeanor charge of second-degree criminal contempt.
HELD ON A MISDEMEANOR
It is his second long stay in jail since he accused his cousin.
In April 2025, Ryan Flynn reported to Buffalo police that his cousin had sexually abused him at about age 10 in his father's home in South Buffalo. Ryan Flynn also alleged that John Flynn threatened to kill him or ruin his life if he disclosed the abuse.
Ryan Flynn says he also asked police for a wellness check on John Flynn, after John Flynn's son told him his father was using cocaine heavily and might be suicidal. In a sworn statement, John Flynn said his son Derek lives in New York City and never called Ryan Flynn.
Ten days later, Tonawanda police charged Ryan Flynn with false reporting.
THE X POST
In October 2025, Tonawanda police arrested Ryan Flynn over an anonymous X post threatening John Flynn's wife.
The post came from an account identified as "JohnFlynn@needmorehaters1."
The criminal complaint cited a screenshot. It listed no IP address, device record or metadata linking the account to Ryan Flynn.
Ryan Flynn said he did not write the post.
He spent about eight months in jail. In June, the grand jury declined to indict him on the felonies. He went home.
During those eight months, Ryan Flynn says, his bail on the May 2025 misdemeanor was $1.
He argues that he has already spent more time in custody than he would serve if convicted.
A New York class A misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of 364 days. Good-time allowances can reduce the time actually served to eight months.
"So I'm being held illegally," he said.
New York bars cash bail for most misdemeanors. Certain contempt charges involving protective orders are exceptions. Ryan Flynn says the charges are made up.
"Every single crime that they're charging me with is a fake charge," he said.
JAIL, NOT TREATMENT
Erie County forensic evaluators found Ryan Flynn incompetent to stand trial in September 2025. Two psychiatrists found him competent in January 2026. Ryan Flynn said prosecutors requested another competency hearing in April.
He is being held in a county jail, not a psychiatric hospital.
Ryan Flynn says he is held in a unit without windows, television, a microwave, or commissary.
THE PIGEON PRECEDENT
John Flynn, as Erie County District Attorney, once prosecuted a child sex abuse case on one accuser's word.
In December 2021, John Flynn's office charged G. Steven Pigeon, the former Erie County Democratic chairman and a longtime political rival, with multiple offenses, including predatory sexual assault against a child.
Pigeon faced a possible life sentence.
The case centered on one accuser. The evidence included no DNA or corroborating eyewitness testimony.
John Flynn said he believed the accuser. He said he did not need corroboration.
"This is big boy stuff here," he said. "This is rape."
Pigeon later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, first-degree sexual abuse. He received a 364-day jail sentence and served eight months.
Pigeon, maintaining his innocence, said the plea deal was coercive. He faced life in prison and took the plea deal John Flynn offered as the case began to unravel.
The accuser was a teenager known to have psychiatric issues, and her mother had a long history of making false rape allegations. John Flynn ignored all this evidence in his eagerness to charge his long-time political foe.
John Flynn has not been charged in connection with Ryan Flynn's allegations, which remain unproven. Whether the statute of limitations would bar prosecution has not been established.
When Pigeon's accuser made allegations of child sexual abuse, John Flynn's office pursued charges against Pigeon. When Ryan Flynn accused John Flynn of childhood abuse, Ryan Flynn faced a false-reporting charge.
Ryan Flynn says he is in jail because of the man he accused.
"Anyone who speaks out against him, he tries to put in jail and press charges on them," he said.
UNOPPOSED
Former Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joe Emminger announced his resignation on April 8, two days after the deadline to file petitions for the June primary. No primary was held for the vacancy. The Tonawanda Town Democratic Committee chose John Flynn.
Democratic Committee Chair John Crangle called the decision "unanimous" and "without opposition."
Emminger stepped down in May.
The all-Democratic Town Board appointed John Flynn on May 18.
Tuesday's election fills the rest of Emminger's term, through December 2027. To stay beyond 2027, he must run again next year.
Both men live in the Town of Tonawanda. It isn’t a big town, and Ryan Flynn gets around.
Ryan Flynn was in jail from October 2025 to June 2026. That covered the whole stretch when Emminger resigned, the party picked John Flynn, and the Town Board appointed him without opposition.
John Flynn has to run again in 2027. If Ryan Flynn is out of jail by then, he can tell anyone in town that his cousin molested him. If he is still in jail, he can’t.
It remains unclear whether John Flynn can keep his cousin imprisoned for another year to keep him silent past the 2027 elections, where John Flynn is expected to face an opponent.
A FUNDRAISER FOR BAIL
Ryan Flynn's supporters are raising money for his bail.
The fundraiser says Ryan Flynn has lost his mother and two brothers, and that his uncle is the only family member still supporting him.
The organizers say defendants charged with violent crimes have received lower bail than Ryan Flynn.
The organizers wrote that they want "to help secure bail for a man we believe deserves the opportunity to return home."
