Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 33-year-old Nicholas Harms of Eden pleaded guilty before Erie County Court Judge Michael Pietruszka to one count of Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree, a Class “D” violent felony.

In the early morning of August 22, 2017, a fire broke out in the attached garage of a home on Rosedale Avenue in the Village of Hamburg. A family of five was asleep at the time, and was forced to escape the blaze from a second-floor window.

Police located the defendant nearby who had a debit card and other stolen property from inside the home in his possession.

Harms faces a maximum of 7 years in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday, November 21 at 2 p.m. He remains free on $100,000 bond.

DA Flynn commends the investigative work of Detectives Shaun Hediger and Lee Evans of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office Fire Investigation Unit, Captain Richard Schara and Officer Matthew Cullen of the Village of Hamburg Police Department and Officer Joshua Taylor of the Town of Hamburg Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Felony Trials Bureau Chief Paul J. Glascott and Assistant District Attorney Rachel L. Newton of the DA’s Felony Trials Bureau.