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Thursday, 16
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Submitted by the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office
Niagara County District Attorney Brian D. Seaman announced previously convicted arsonist Joseph Gains, age 61, of Niagara Falls, has plead guilty to another arson charge and will serve the next five to 10 years in prison. Gains plead guilty this afternoon to arson in the third degree in satisfaction of an indictment charging him with setting a series of five fires on four separate dates in 2022 and 2023 at the Auto Reclaim Scrap Center (aka Myles Junkyard) in Niagara Falls and at a neighboring garage in the Town of Niagara. Nobody was hurt as a result of these fires.
Gaines previously served 18 years in prison for setting a fire in 1982 that resulted in the death of a responding firefighter.
Seaman stated, “Thankfully, nobody was hurt by the fires this defendant set in 2022 and 2023. But arson is such a serious crime in part because of what can happen as a result. Anytime someone intentionally sets a fire, that person puts the lives of the men and women who will rush to the scene in danger.”
Gains will return to court on March 17, 2025, to be sentenced by County Court Judge John Ottaviano.
The arsons were investigated by the Niagara Falls Police Department, Niagara Falls Fire Department, and Niagara County Sheriff's Office, and the case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Doreen Hoffmann, Susan Bjornholm, Kaitlynn Schmidt and Raymond Fadel.
1859 Whitehaven Road, Grand Island, NY 14072
Phone: 716-773-7676
Fax: 716-773-7190
