Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III today announces the retirement of Assistant District Attorney John C. Doscher, Chief of the Erie County District Attorney’s Office Financial Crimes Bureau.

For the last quarter of a century, Mr. Doscher prosecuted some of the most notorious white collar criminals in Western New York.  He is known as a prosecutor’s prosecutor for attention to detail, the ability to have case law at his fingertips, and an amazing ability to recall dates, numbers, and names pertaining to cases that occurred throughout his career.

Mr. Doscher is known as a person who analyzes every case thoroughly as he seeks out the nuances of the embezzlement, the victim and the target.  A teacher at heart, he had guided and taught many of the local police agencies the technicalities of obtaining evidence and developing theory and technique.

Personally he has handled some of the most devious and financially harmful men and woman of this county including Anthony Franjoine who stole from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo; Steve Wisniewski, a former defense lawyer-turned businessman who scammed his clients for over $400,000 in the housing business; Don Bergevin a disbarred lawyer who embezzled over $50,000 from a vulnerable elderly woman; Paul Muccigrosso who scammed fellow church members; and, Jack Fortune another scam artist who took from friends, businesses and charitable endeavors.

DA Sedita observed that very few attorneys could ever match Mr. Doscher’s work ethic and persistence and that his leadership by example inspired great results from the Assistant District Attorneys assigned to his bureau.  “We all know that no one will ever truly replace John, and he leaves the Financial Crimes Bureau as a well-oiled machine,” Sedita remarked. 

In addition to his financial crime prosecutions, Mr. Doscher also handled and supervised several cases involving local police behavior, arson, drugs and assault.

Mr. Doscher served in the administrations of four elected District Attorneys during his career in Erie County, and established himself as one of the top financial crimes prosecutors in New York.  In his years as a prosecutor, Mr. Doscher has been instrumental in recovering millions of dollars for local companies, not-for-profit organizations, and the vulnerable victims of numerous schemes and dreams by local financial crime defendants.

As a former prosecutor in Queens County, Mr. Doscher changed venue when he married, Greta, the love of his life.  He had already distinguished himself after his graduation from Oswego College and the SUNY Law School by serving the less fortunate.  After working for Legal Aid in Suffolk County primarily in Family Court, he spent two years in Mexico helping to provide food, clothing and medicine to the citizens of the Tijuana area.   

Mr. Doscher’s ability to reduce most situations to a football metaphor, devise lists of topics that must be covered, and translate or write in several languages including Spanish and German will be missed by his fellow prosecutors.