Niagara Falls attorney sentenced for sexually assaulting 3 victims

Submitted by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced 30-year-old Nicholas D. D’Angelo of Niagara Falls was sentenced this afternoon before State Supreme Court Justice Debra Givens to six months in jail followed by 10 years of probation with sex offender conditions. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from custody.

In the fall of 2016, the defendant met the first victim through an online dating website and picked her up at her residence for an arranged date. The defendant drove to an unknown location in the City of Niagara Falls where he forcibly engaged in sexual conduct with the victim inside of his locked vehicle, which was parked in an isolated area.

On Oct. 26, 2018, the defendant subjected a second victim to sexual contact by forcible compulsion at his law office in the City of Lockport.

Between August 2019 and October 2019, the defendant engaged in sexual conduct and sexual intercourse with a third victim on his boat at a marina in Niagara County. Between September 2019 and October 2019, the defendant engaged in sexual conduct and sexual intercourse with the same victim at inside of his vehicle in the City of Niagara Falls. At the time of both crimes, the defendant, being older than 21 years of age, engaged in sexual intercourse and sexual conduct with the victim who was less than 17 years old.

The defendant was indicted by a Niagara County Grand Jury. The Erie County District Attorney’s Office was appointed as a special prosecutor after the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office recused themselves from the case.

On April 25, 2023, D’Angelo pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual abuse in the first degree (class “D” violent felonies), two counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree, and two counts of rape in the third degree (class “E” felonies). The defendant pleaded guilty to the charges ahead of a jury trial, which was scheduled to begin on May 8, 2023. As part of the plea, D’Angelo agreed to surrender his license to practice law and will not reapply for a law license in the future.

District Attorney Flynn commends retired Det. Brian Schell of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police for their work in these investigations.

The case was prosecuted by Chief Lynette M. Reda of the special victims/domestic violence bureau and Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Mattle of the appeals bureau.