Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 20-year-old Anthony J. Ciccarelli of Town of Tonawanda was sentenced yesterday afternoon by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case to one year in jail.

On Thursday, March 5, 2020, at approximately 5:53 p.m., the defendant discharged a handgun that was in his pocket at a restaurant at the Walden Galleria. The gunfire hit his girlfriend in the upper right leg. The victim has since recovered from the injury. The handgun was reported stolen from a vehicle in Niagara Falls and was not registered to the defendant.

Ciccarelli pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (Class “D” felony) on September 25, 2020.

While pending sentence in the gun case, the defendant was arrested for possession of cocaine.

On October 1, 2020, at approximately 1:12 a.m., Cheektowaga Police officers approached a vehicle parked on Shanley Street and smelled the odor of marijuana. The defendant, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, admitted to smoking marijuana. The defendant was ordered to exit the vehicle as officers conducted a search. The officers found a small quantity of marijuana and $769.00 in cash on the defendant’s person. Officers recovered more than ½ ounce of powder cocaine and a scale from under the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Ciccarelli pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree (Class “B” felony). He pleaded guilty to the highest sustainable charge on February 10, 2021.

DA Flynn commends the Cheektowaga Police Department for their work in both investigations. 

Both cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney James M. Marra of the DA’s Felony Trials Bureau.