Modified: September 12, 2014 2:50pm
Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 21 year old Kapone C. Young of 28 Van Gorder Street, Buffalo, pleaded guilty as charged to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree before Erie County Court Judge Thomas P. Franczyk. This is the highest charge Young could have been convicted of had he gone to trial. In other words, the defendant was not offered a so-called “plea bargain” and was instead prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
On April 5, 2014, Buffalo police officers on routine patrol observed Young’s vehicle parked along Courtland Avenue, those inside smoking marijuana. A search of the vehicle revealed a secret compartment which held a concealed, unlicensed, and loaded pistol. All of the vehicle’s occupants were arrested. Subsequent DNA analysis confirmed the pistol belonged exclusively to Young, thus exonerating the passengers.
Young faces a maximum prison term of 15 years when he is sentenced before Judge Franczyk on October 27, 2014.
The case was successfully and justly prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Seth Molisani, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Felony Trial Bureau.
22 year-old Daron Lipscomb of Buffalo pleaded guilty as charged to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges.
On July 12, 2014 Lipscomb attempted to rob a cab driver, wielding a loaded Kalashnikov (AK 47) assault rifle. The cab driver sped off and alerted the authorities. Buffalo police officers quickly located the defendant, seated in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, with the loaded assault rifle between his legs. Further investigation implicated Lipscomb in an April 16, 2014 South Buffalo robbery and a June 17, 2014 University Heights robbery. Accordingly, Lipscomb also pleaded guilty to two counts of Robbery in the 3rd Degree in connection with those crimes.
Lipscomb faces up to 29 years in state prison when sentenced by Justice Haendiges on October 3, 2014.
Lipscomb was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney James W. Mansour, II, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Felony Trial Bureau.