Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 40-year-old Albert J. Webber of Lyons, N.Y. pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case to one count of Attempted Burglary in the First Degree (Class “C” felony).

On August 30, 2019, at approximately 1:00 a.m., the defendant, along with co-defendant 41-year-old Anthony R. Busch of Town of Tonawanda, unlawfully entered the home of an elderly couple in the Town of Orchard Park. Busch targeted the victims after being previously employed by the couple as a home improvement contractor. During the home invasion, Webber pointed a gun at the elderly female victim while demanding her purse and other property.

Webber was linked to the crime through forensic evidence, which corroborated witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence in the case.

Busch previously pleaded guilty before Judge Case to one count of Burglary in the Second Degree (Class “C” felony), one count of Burglary in the Third Degree (Class “D” felony) and one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (Class “D” felony). In July 2020, he received a determinate sentence of 7 years in prison.  

Webber faces a maximum of 7 years in prison when he is sentenced as a second violent felony offender on Thursday, December 2, 2021. He continues to remain held without bail.

DA Flynn commends Detective Jamie Mazur of the Orchard Park Police Department for his work in the investigation.  

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christopher P. Jurusik of the Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Rachel Kranitz McPhee of the Felony Trials Bureau.