Guilty plea for man in DWI case

A Lockport man pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving while intoxicated on his way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting last year.

Christopher F. Mosher, 52, 134 Bridlewood Drive, was charged Sunday with DWI and driving with a suspended registration.

Lockport police reportedly responded to Genesee Street at 8:27 p.m. in reference to a possible drunken driver.

Mosher was in a parking lot and, according to the report, he fell after taking a few steps.

Police said they detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from Mosher. He failed field sobriety tests, officers said, and told police he was late for an AA meeting.

Mosher had a previous DWI conviction, which pushed his new charge to a felony.



Animal abandoner pleads guilty to animal torture

A Lockport man who abandoned nearly two dozen cats at a 245 Park Ave., home in January pleaded guilty Wednesday to animal torture charges.

Kim A. Veach, 51, 59 Prospect St., upper, was charged earlier this year with endangering the welfare of a child, criminal mischief and several counts of torturing/injuring an animal. He was additionally charged with accumulation of rubbish, a sanitation violation and four counts of having a dog at large.

Veach pleaded guilty to the code violations in housing court in February and pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted torturing of an animal and attempted criminal mischief.

John Faso of the Niagara County SPCA said 15 cats were seized from the home after the SPCA received a call from homeowner, Paul Trinkwalder, about cats that were abandoned in the property and one cat that scratched another person.

When Faso and SPCA agents arrived the house, they found unlivable conditions, Faso said. He described the conditions as “deplorable.”

“You could smell the odor from outside,” Faso said.

Faso said in some parts of the home, up to 18 inches of feces built up forcing a handful of cats to make space to live inside of bedroom walls.

Faso added that two cats died during the seizure due to “malnutrition,” but the others will be “nursed back to health and set up for adoption through (the SPCA).”

Trinkwalder ended up adopting two cats, Sinatra and Sylvester.

Upon further investigation, several more cats were found within days of the original call at the Park Avenue home, Faso said.

The Niagara County Department of Health reportedly condemned the home after the people who lived in the apartment were evicted and left the cats behind.

Faso said Trinkwalder told him and police that he rented out the front half of the house to a couple with a child for more than three years.

When police picked up Veach at his new residence, more cats and four dogs were also found, Faso said.

Veach faces sentencing June 22 in Lockport City Court.