U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for Federal action on “swatting” calls while visiting Lockport (April 5, 2023)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for Federal action following a slew of “swatting” calls to schools in New York State over the past week.

Schumer said 36 of these “swatting” calls falsely reporting a mass shooting resulted in police responding to 226 schools across the state last week. At a stop in Lockport, one of the school districts affected by a “swatting” call, he said he called and had written to the Federal Bureau of Investigations about the issue.

Schumer also announced a three-point plan that he says will combat these threats that includes:
– Calling on the FBI for a full investigation and to hold those involved accountable
– Pushing for $10 million to go toward more federal resources to help tackle swatting
– Asking that the FBI track swatting as its own crime

“Swatting” has been a growing trend in recent years in which a phone call or false report is made to unsuspecting resident’s home, a school, or other public place in order to evoke a police or SWAT team response. Reports indicate that this string of ‘swatting’ hoaxes may have come from outside the U.S.

Schumer said these false alerts are not only terrifying for the victims, but they can also cost law enforcement thousands of dollars, delay response to actual emergencies, and have even resulted in injury or death of innocent bystanders. In 2014, on Long Island, one fake swatting bomb threat ended up costing police nearly $100,000 dollars.

An image of the suspect and the vehicle believed to have been used in the Feb. 1, 2019 bank robbery in Lakewood, NY.

LAKEWOOD – The Federal Bureau of Investigations is releasing updated information regarding an armed bank robbery at the Five Star Bank in Lakewood that took place on Friday, Feb. 1.

The FBI said it now believes the vehicle used in the robbery was an early 2000s model Ford F-150. Authorities originally believed the vehicle to be a 1997 or 1998 F-250.

The pickup truck is maroon in color and had a bumper sticker that read “Beware of the Dog” on the right rear passenger window. A magnetic ribbon also appears to be on the passenger side door.

A heavily disguised robber walked into the bank and ordered employees at gunpoint to clear out into the bank’s vault. The suspect also reportedly told employees he had strapped a bomb to his body.

The suspect was believed to be an older white male approximately 6 feet tall and 250 pounds. He was last seen driving south on Mall Boulevard toward Hunt Road.

No one was injured during the incident.

Anyone with tips are encouraged to call Lakewood-Busti police at 763-9563.

Shaquelle Coleman and Earl Stone

JAMESTOWN – Two Buffalo men and alleged gang members have been arrested in Jamestown in connection with an investigation into Buffalo-area gang activity and parole violations.

The Jamestown Police Department says 26-year-old Earl Stone and 25-year-old Shaquelle Coleman were arrested at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23 after an investigation revealed the two were both at a residence at 214 W. Seventh Street.

Police say the two were both known members of the violent Buffalo street gang “Fruit Belt Posse” and were both wanted as violent parole violators. A join investigation – conducted by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force in Buffalo, the Jamestown Metro Drug Task force, the New York State Police K9 unit, and the New York State Parole Department – tracked the two men to Jamestown and they were brought into custody without incident.

Task Force officers also located a quantity of crack cocaine and about $1000 cash.

Both men are now being held on parole violations and additional charges are pending.

The CNN report was entitled ”Disturbing’ Rape Kit Investigation Prompts Action in Several States” and was written by investigative journalists Sergio Hernandez and Ashley Fantz as part of the CNN Investigates series.

The report highlights incidents in several police agencies across the country where evidence collected from rape kits was destroyed prematurely.

CNN found the JPD destroyed at least two kits tied to cases police described as first-degree rapes, which carried no statutes of limitations.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office called the destruction of the kits “disturbing” and directed state police to contact the Jamestown Police Department to ensure it is “complying with state law regarding the handling of rape kits.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand issued a statement calling the destruction “deeply offensive to the survivors of these horrific crimes.”

“I am extremely disturbed that some police departments around the country have been brazenly destroying this crucial evidence, even before the statute of limitations has ended — something they almost certainly would not do for any other violent crime,” she said.

The reporters for CNN say Jamestown and other jurisdictions in the report were selected for investigation after they looked at data from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program on cities in each state with the largest population, the highest raw number of rape reports, and the highest number of rape reports per capita in 2014.

Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings issued a statement as part of the CNN investigation:

Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings

At face value, [experts’ claims that sexual assault kits should be maintained for the time allowed by law to prosecute] is a fair criticism. However, in the cases CNN identified, there were several examples of why we would not retain the evidence kits. They include victims recanting their statements and investigations revealing that the acts were consensual or did not occur. If there is no crime committed, there is no need to retain the evidence. There have been some changes and proposed legislation in the handling of sexual assault kits in New York State. As of February 26, 2017, a law enforcement agency must submit any sexual offense evidence kit that it receives or collects to an appropriate forensic laboratory within 10 days of receipt. Additionally, there has been proposed legislation requiring the retention of all kits for extended periods of time. As CNN’s investigation showed, we have been retaining all kits since 2013. We have been following this practice in anticipation of these changes.

WRFA also reached out to Snellings with questions about the report, who reiterated what he had stated to CNN.

“The two cases referenced in the article were destroyed between 2010 and 2013,” Snelling told WRFA via email. “These cases were closed out.  Since 2013 It has been  the policy and practice of the Jamestown Police Department to permanently maintain all kits.”

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A conference call with Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) and regional media representatives. Held Wednesday Morning, June 9, 2017.

This week the congressman provides an update on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. He also comments on the president’s new choice to head the FBI, Christopher Wray. He also discusses the House’ Financial Choice Act proposal, which would remove several of the banking regulations imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

President Donald Trump (left) and former FBI Director James Comey.

WASHINGTON – In a surprising and stunning move Tuesday, President Donald Trump fired James Comey as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

The abrupt firing of Comey throws into question the future of a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible connections to Russia, and immediately raises suspicions of an underhanded effort to stymie a probe that has shadowed the administration from the outset.

In his letter to Comey, Trump said the firing was necessary to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI. The administration paired the letter with a scathing review by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of how Comey handled the investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s email practices.

Democrats likened Tuesday’s ouster to President Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” and renewed calls for the appointment of a special prosecutor, and some Republicans also questioned the move.

Sen. Charles Schumer

Senator and minority leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) made a statement Tuesday afternoon, asking if the investigation from the FBI was getting too close to home for the president, resulting in the firing. He also called it troubling that Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had recused himself from the Russia investigation, played a role in firing the man leading it. And he said the firing shatters the American people’s faith in our criminal justice system, and urged Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor immediately to restore that faith.

“This is part of a deeply troubling pattern from the Trump administration. They fired Sally Yates. They fired Preet Bharara. And now they’ve fired Director Comey, the very man leading the investigation. This does not seem to be a coincidence,” Schumer said. “This investigation must be run as far away as possible from this White House and as far away as possible from anyone that President Trump has appointed… The American people need to have faith that an investigation as serious as this one is being conducted impartially, without a shred of bias. The only way the American people can have faith in this investigation is for it to be led by a fearless, independent special prosecutor. If Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein does not appoint an independent special prosecutor, every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a cover-up.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also sent a tweet out following the firing, calling for an independent special prosecutor to investigate the Trump Administration’s ties to Russia.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) – who represents Chautauqua County in Washington, released a brief statement on the firing Wednesday morning.

“The FBI Director serves at the pleasure of the President and I am confident that this action will ensure the FBI will be the righteous and just organization it needs to be for all Americans. As Americans, we all care about a fair and non-politicized examination of the facts and that our principles are protected,” Reed said.

If the deputy attorney attorney general decides not to appoint a special prosecutor, Congress could initiate to appoint a special prosecutor by passing a law, as it did in 1978, when the Ethics in Government Act was passed. The law dictated that a three-judge panel based at the US Court of Appeals in DC would appoint the counsel. The law, which was reauthorized several times until its sunset in 1999, was used more than a dozen times to initiate investigations, including most famously in the 1990s when it led to the appointment of attorney Kenneth Starr to oversee investigations in to President Bill Clinton. Such a law would have to be either signed by Trump or, in the event of a presidential veto, overridden by a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress.

Congress could also launch its own investigation into the executive branch without legislation because such authority is implicit in the Constitution.

However, with both the Senate and House controlled by Republicans, it appears it would be very unlikely they would move forward with a full-throttle push to investigate a President from their own party, even when the investigation would involve alleged collusion with a foreign government to help sway the outcome of a United States Presidential Election.