ERIKETA COST
Life & Arts Editor
Fredonia student Anisa Ineson came home on the evening of Sept. 27 to strange sounds and suspicion.
She is a resident of one of the homes that was broken into that night.
“I came home early Friday night and [the burglars] locked the door on me, which was weird … ” she said. “I unlocked it, and it seemed like someone was in the bathroom, so I knocked and no one answered. I opened the door and then the kid was crawling out of my bathroom window.”
“I went into my room, which was locked, and then my window was open and my laptop and backpack were gone, but he left my school supplies,” said Ineson.
Ineson called her housemates and the police immediately after.
“When I called, they were about to come in, but then they started running, but the police trapped them in the cemetery…” said Ineson.
Ineson has not heard anything about where her belongings are at this time.
Crime is rather unusual for the village of Fredonia — but residents can take comfort knowing that the Fredonia Police Department has been investigating the occurences, and two Erie County residents have since been charged.
Howard Charles Williams III (21 years old) and Donte-Taven Ronald Peay (20 years old) are both charged with petit larceny, fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree burglary.
Fredonia Police Chief Bradley Meyers sent out a press release with a brief play-by-play following two phone calls they received that night.
It said that the FPD first received a call of past-tense burglary on Terrace St.
While processing the scene, they then received a second call reporting a present-tense burglary on White St.
Upon arriving on White St., the FPD entered into a “foot pursuit,” which ultimately landed them and the suspects in Forresthill Cemetery. A perimeter was established in the cemetery.
University Police, NY State Police, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and units from the Dunkirk Police and their K-9 units were all involved in the matter.
The Leader has reached out multiple times to Meyers and Mayor Landis to discuss the matter in more depth, but has been unable to get through to either of them.
The investigation is ongoing and more charges and arrests are possible.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Fredonia Police Department at (716) 679-1531.