POLICE & COURTS

>Chicago man charged with selling bootleg CDs

Buffalo police made an unusual arrest Saturday, charging aChicago man with selling bootlegged compact discs at an event in theConvention Center.

Acting on a complaint from the Recording Industry Association ofAmerica that a man was selling music CDs that were in violation ofcopyright laws, officers arrested Rahsaan Spencer, 31, according toLt. Salvatore Losi.

Spencer was selling products at a weekend event called the GreatMerchandise Sale, police said. Spencer was participating in a fleamarket-type event that holds similar sales across the country, Losisaid, selling CDs of popular music. "We confiscated over 900 CDs,"he said. "There had to be 30 or 40 different artists."

This was the first time in his career he was involved in such anarrest, adding that copyright infringement issues have become moreprominent in the Internet age, Losi said.

Spencer has been charged with a Class A misdemeanor, punishableby up to a year in prison. Officers Martin Dwyer and Paul Hoppyassisted in Saturday's confiscation.

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>Robber snatches cash over gas station counter

A robber made off with an undetermined amount of cash from aNiagara Street gas station Saturday.

The man walked into G&G Petroleum at 1543 Niagara St. about 8a.m., approaching the counter with his hands in his pockets as if hehad a gun. He ordered the cashier to open the cash register, thenreached over the counter and took money.

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>Man arrested in threat to blow up his home

A Riley Street man was arrested early Thursday after hethreatened to blow up his home with gas from his stove while a womanand three small children were inside the house with him, policesaid.

The woman told police that Anthony Lee, 38, unplugged the gasline to his stove and turned on all of the burners, then threatenedto blow up the house by lighting a match.

The three children were 6 months, 5 and 15 years old.

Police responding to the scene detected a strong odor of gas inthe house.

Lee was charged with four counts of first-degree recklessendangerment and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

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>10-year term ordered in 2005 home invasion

The Buffalo man who instigated the violent home invasion of anelderly Monroe Street woman has been ordered to spend the next 10years in prison.

Jeremiah N. Garner, 21, of Parkview Street was chided by ErieCounty Judge Shirley Troutman Friday for his role in the assault onthe 86-year-old woman, who died of unrelated causes a month afterthe Dec. 27, 2005, attack.

Garner pleaded guilty last July to a first-degree burglary chargein the case. His cousin and co-defendant, Latasha Garner, also 21,of Guilford Street, faces sentencing Wednesday on her attemptedburglary plea in the case.

Troutman in October ordered Dewan Reid, 19, to serve a 31/2-yearprison term on his burglary plea in the case.

The victim lived alone in the 500 block of Monroe Street nearBrown Street, Deputy District Attorney Molly Jo Musarra said. Thethree bandits got into her house by claiming they had just been thevictims of a carjacking.

The victim was beaten with a table lamp and a dresser drawer andbound with electrical tape as the intruders ransacked her house,Musarra said. They made off with about $800 in cash, a credit cardand some jewelry, all recovered by Ferry-Fillmore District policeofficers and detectives.

Though relatives of the elderly victim contended the trauma ofthe home invasion led to her death, there was no evidence toprosecute the three on homicide-related charges, court officialssaid.

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>Stuck in mud, driver of stolen van arrested

Two police supervisors in the Central District teamed up lateFriday to arrest a West Side man who was spotted with a stolen vanstuck in the mud in a Prospect Avenue backyard, authorities said.

Chief Donna Berry reportedly spotted Charles Burgess, 43, ofAuburn Avenue fleeing from the yard. Capt. Gregg Blosat followed upon the sighting and caught Burgess on Hampshire Street, near WestAvenue.

Burgess was charged with possession of a stolen van, possessionof burglary tools and criminal possession of a hypodermic needle.

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>Family lacks heat, water in theft of furnace, pipes

An East Side family is without heat and water this weekendbecause crooks stole their furnace and the copper plumbing,according to Ferry-Fillmore District police.

Thieves forced their way into the family's apartment in the 100block of Rother Avenue on Saturday morning and took the heatingequipment, police said. The family plans to spend nights withrelatives until repairs are made to the home, police added.

In recent months, police have received numerous reports of copperpipe thefts from homes because of the increased value of copper atscrap yards due to a worldwide shortage of the metal.