Buffalo, NY – Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard announces the successful completion of the 13th Annual National Family Violence Apprehension Detail by the Erie County Sheriff's Office Family Court Enforcement Unit on Wednesday, October 21.  The enforcement unit established an internal task force consisting of Deputies from the Narcotics, Traffic and Patrol units to arrest individuals with outstanding Family Courts warrants.

By Wednesday afternoon, this countywide enforcement resulted in the arrests of several individuals with existing family-violence-related arrest warrants.  Deputies arrested and took six subjects, with a combined eight warrants, into custody.

Arrested in the operation were: 

31-year-old Antoine Black from Buffalo on two Family Court Support warrants

45-year-old James Tischendorf of Depew on a Family Court Support warrant

27-year-old Roberto Martinez of Buffalo in a Family Court Paternity warrant

43-year-old Gary J. Martin of Buffalo on a Family Court Support warrant

19-year-old Damaris Santiago of Buffalo on a Family Court Child Neglect warrant

59-year-old David Rowell from Buffalo on two Family Court Support warrants

Deputies later made contact with 26-year-old Lonnie Cherry who is making arrangements to turn himself into authorities.  Cherry is wanted on an outstanding Family Court warrant and an outstanding Cheektowaga Town Court warrant.

Nationally, the 13th Annual Family Violence Apprehension Detail included approximately 220 county sheriffs' offices, police departments, probation departments, and community agencies from 26 states.  All agencies served outstanding arrest warrants with charges ranging from harassment to murder.

The Family Court Warrant Enforcement Unit’s operation, commonly known as the SWEEP, helps raise awareness of the problem of family and domestic violence in our communities.  It also demonstrates to offenders that they will be held accountable for their violence.

Deputies are confident that intelligence gathered during the sweep will lead to several more arrests in the following days and weeks.