Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III announced that 50 year old Charles Markel of 28 Frantzen Terrace, Cheektowaga pleaded guilty to Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the Second Degree, a class “A” misdemeanor before Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang.   Markel unlawfully collected unemployment benefits from the State of New York by falsely certifying that he was completely unemployed, when he was in fact receiving a salary for serving as a town of Cheektowaga Councilman.  He made full restitution at the time of plea in the amount of $7,136.  As a result of his plea to a crime involving moral turpitude, his position as councilman is automatically vacated by operation of law.  Markel was sentenced to a one year conditional discharge. 

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Gary M. Ertel of DA Sedita’s Financial Crimes Bureau.