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in Florida charged in $4-million embezzlement. Linda K. Corra, 48, now
living in Boca Raton, FL was arrested Wednesday, 4/26, and charged with the embezzlement
of over $4-million from a Boca cancer clinic. Corra, known, reports say, as Linda
Dern when living in Lockport, had been the chief financial officer of the Center
for Hematoloy-Oncology. The Lockport Home Page was told she had worked at
the clinic for about 12 years. According to public papers, the theft began in June
2005 and continued up until about the time she quit her job earlier this month. A new
bookkeeper brought financial shortages to the attention of the clinic's owner and a
complaint to Boca Raton police quickly followed. After her arrest on Wednesday, she
was jailed in lieu of $15,000 bail. She and her husband, Joe, were reported in
various stages of buying additional properties, a boat, and she reportedly had ten bank
accounts. News reports say that Corra has confessed to the embezzlement and was not
sure how much she took by writing checks on the clinic's accounts which were then payable
to herself. Mrs. Corra reportedly held properties in Boyton Beach in addition to a
million-dollar Boca residence. She also had, reports say, a 38-foot boat.
(4/27/06)
(Another) Sheriff's Deputy arrested on sex charges. More than a month after The Lockport Home Page first reported that State authorities were investigating, a 13-year veteran of the Niagara County Sheriff's Department has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. 42-year old Deputy Hugh Messer of the Town of Niagara has also been charged with official misconduct. Messer had been assigned by the Sheriff's Department as a "school resource officer" at Niagara Wheatfield High School where, court papers claim, he had sexual contact with a 16-year old girl student in February. The incident, and the long delay in the Sheriff's Department finally suspending Deputy Messer, appears as another black eye for a department with a history going back about ten years of deputies being charged with sex crimes and other criminal activity. Messer entered an innocent plea in Lewiston Town Court on Thursday, 4/20, and was released on $1000 bail for a court date of May 17th. He was also suspended from the Sheriff's Department. (4/21/06)
State Police asked to investigate school sex claim? The Lockport Home Page has been told that the New York State Police have been asked to probe a claim that a Niagara County Sheriff's Deputy has been accused of inappropriate behavior with a 16-year old girl. The incident is said to have been connected with the (male) deputy's on-duty service with a county school. Reports say he has since been removed from that position. Sources say the matter is also being looked into by the Sheriff's Department but the father of the girl may not be satisfied with that type of investigation, given the history of past in-service probes. (3/2/06)
New York State Police County HQ at Lockport
Another Sheriff's deputy charged with sex crimes. Roger L. Hueber, Jr., 42, of Caledonia Street, Lockport, remains on the county payroll at about $50K/year even after months of investigation of reports claiming he had "sexual contact" with under-age girls. Thursday, 2/2, the charges reached the point that he was ordered jailed to await a March 14th court date to answer a 20-count indictment claiming he had "sexual contact" with teenage girls. A 17-year old reportedly told a Lockport school counselor about some of the claimed randy exploits. A 14-year old girl is also mentioned. Hueber has been working as a guard at the Niagara County Jail and was sent to the Orleans County Jail to be confined until trial date. According to public papers there are still unresolved charges dating back to 2004 involving Deputy Hueber and a 13-year old girl. Public reports say his girl friend at the time, 33-year old Sheryl Rucci is sought in connection with a sex charge indictment involving Hueber. She is reported a fugitive from justice. His current, reputed girl friend, an 18-year old, is accused of threatening one of his alleged under-age victims. (2/3/06) Update 3/23/06: Deputy Hueber entered a "guilty" plea in court and waits sentencing on May1st. Efforts are underway to remove him from the County payroll.
County Sheriff's Sergeant commits suicide on duty. 35-year old Jeffrey Juron shot himself in the head with his service revolver Friday, 12/30 shortly after coming on duty at the Niagara County Sheriff's Department. He was the father of two girls and lived in the Niagara Falls area. It is the second suicide within the Sheriff's Department in the last seven years. Sources tell the Lockport Home Page that Juron had just completed a staff meeting with a few other officers and had held the daily briefing for the patrols he would be supervising on the 3-11PM shift. He then went to his office (directly across from the department's Main Dispatch Center) and shot himself once in the head. His body was discovered by two investigators about 5:30PM, the time of death is being initially estimated at about 5PM. Road patrols were called in for grief counseling and other state, town, and city police units were called upon to take over all Sheriff Department response duties. There was no information immediately released about what Juron was upset about. He was a member of the Department's group that tries to help fellow officers with personal problems. (12/31/05)
Reports claim Hartland Hide-A-Way was an "arsenal." Published reports describe the country residence of 43-year old Steven Smith as an "arsenal" where thousands of rounds of ammunition were stored along with high-powered weapons. Smith was arrested in the thick woods outside his HQ at 3103 Checkered Tavern Road in the Town of Hartland, in an area referred to locally as "Appleton." He is charged with robbing at gun-point the Sunoco gas station at High and South Transit Road in Lockport Wednesday evening, 12/21 where it is alleged he shot two employees.
The Lockport Page is told Smith was captured at a bleak-looking rural hide-a-way he called home later that night and taken into Lockport where he was held without bail facing multiple charges including First Degree Robbery. Police used a report of a license plate on a vehicle Smith is said to have used as his get-a-way car to trace him down to isolated property about 8 miles Northeast of the crime scene. Sources tell the Lockport Home Page that Smith is being questioned in connection with other robberies around Niagara County. (12/23/05)
One charged in Starpoint School bomb threat. A 16-year old girl was caught threatening to blow up Starpoint Central School Tuesday, 12/20, using at least four pipe bombs. Some of the threat was reported marked on toilet room stalls. The girl, who has been charged and taken into Town Court to answer charges, is also reported to have pulled a Fire Alarm activator in the school. She was identified, sources say, on surveillance video. Her identity was not released nor is it expected that school authorities will reveal the punishment or court action. After her court appearance the young suspect was released to her parents. The Starpoint campus when into "lock down" as a result and students in the lower grades were sent home, missing a half day of school. After-school activities were cancelled. The school's "emergency calling system" was activated telling about 1700 parents of the problem. No bombs were found. (12/22/05)
Lid may come off on sex cover-up at "Coconut Hotel." Immediately following Election Day word began leaking out about a sex incident at the "S-5" area of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, sometimes referred to as "The Coconut Hotel." Sources tell the Lockport Home Page that a Niagara County Jail resident was sent to the S-5 unit for mental health evaluation. While there, reports indicate, he left his room and circulated among two female patients at the facility, having sex with both. One, it is claimed, is now about two-months pregnant. Sources could not explain what happened to the guard assigned to the inmate. We're told there is an intense effort to cover up the matter which could blow into an expensive lawsuit against Niagara County. Rumors of the incident, which is claimed to have happened about a month ago, started circulating last week but a fresh effort to contain news of the alleged event has instead brought forth contact with the Lockport Home Page from those who claim to have knowledge of a County cover-up effort. That effort could find some success in the defense that "patient records are confidential" but it won't stop legal action. (11/10/05)
Jail inmate dead, investigation looms. A North Tonawanda man is dead after an incident in the Niagara County Jail law library and sources tell the Lockport Home Page that an outside agency has been asked to investigate. News reports say 58-year old Joseph Kishel "collapsed" while in the jail library on Monday, 10/31, and was first taken to Newfane Hospital and then transferred to ECMC Emergency Care in Buffalo where he died Tuesday afternoon. Sources tell the Lockport Page today that Mr. Kishel received severe head injuries and, it is claimed, at the time of the incident there was no immediate supervision in the library. Further it is alleged, that Mr. Kishel had been attacked by another inmate. It is not immediately known why Kishel was taken to Newfane Hospital rather than the closer and better-equipped Lockport Memorial Hospital. Kishel, we're told, lived in an apartment in North Tonawanda and had "talked" about running for mayor. (11/2/05)
Sheriff's
Department flooded with law suits. Since Niagara County Sheriff Tom
Beilein took office it appears that his department has been involved in well over one
hundred law suits. The Lockport Home Page has been given a 24-page packet
of documents showing a multitude of actions against Niagara County taxpayers and the
Niagara County Sheriff's Department.
In cases going back to 1994 the documents show expensive legal actions that County taxpayers have had to foot the bill for due to a multitude of claims against the Sheriff's Department and the Niagara County Jail. The total judgements and settlement cash that appear to have been extracted from the defendant Sheriff's Department appears to go well into five figures. And that's not county Workers Compensation claims. Among the claims settled or judgements awarded the documents list: Negligence resulting in death, medical/dental malpractice at the jail, physical assault in the jail, injuries suffered while inmates were playing baseball and basketball, victim beaten by Sheriff's Deputy, Jail visitor injured when a chair collapsed, mail tampering, false arrest, sexual assault, civil rights violations, woman attacked and bitten by Sheriff Department dog, excessive force used during arrest, wrongful detention and arrest, delay in medical treatment, inmate falling out of bed, unfair treatment in police academy training, denial of religion practices, damage to property held by Sheriff's Department as "evidence," attack by Sheriff's dog, failure to provide medication causing seizure, acts of omission and negligence, personal items "disappear" while victim is in jail, victim hangs himself in jail, illegal strip search, pregnant woman chained to bench and beaten, and a high speed ATV chase causing injuries. Some of the items cited are multiple suits from different subjects. Suits against the department even appear to include actions brought by Deputies themselves. Many of the cases shown in the documentation have been previously reported here at the Lockport Home Page. It's indicated that many cases were brought against the County which did not result in a cash award verdict or settlement but for which the County has to provide expensive legal counsel. (11/1/05)
Canine Sex Crime investigation. The
Niagara County Sheriff's Department has reportedly assigned one of its top criminal
investigators to probe reports of a man having sex with a female German Shepherd dog out
on Robinson Road. Authorities reportedly seek to charge the man with
"Aggravated Cruelty to Animals." The Lockport Page has learned
that authorities have photographs of the incident(s). (10/30/05
Critics claim $3-million paid out to settle law suits against Sheriff's Office. Critics of Niagara County Sheriff Tom Beilein are reported in possession of documents claimed to show that over $3-million has been paid so far in settlements or judgements against Niagara County as a result of some 130 lawsuits against Beilein and/or his department. One source promised to provide the Lockport Home Page with copies of the documents that detail taxpayer costs for everything from claimed sex assaults on women to physical assaults on an elderly man. The documentation is possibly being gathered as ammunition for Beilein's opponent, Brian Grear, in the Niagara County Sheriff's election this November. (10/19/05)
$875 toilets proposed for jail inmates. Niagara County Sheriff Tom
Beilein is also reported proposing the taxpayers foot the bill for a $30,000 "coffee
urn," $60,000 for lush carpets, and another million for upgrade on the new
"training center" built under his administration. This information came
out in a report published October 12th by the Niagara Gazette.
10/12/05