Buffalo Man Convicted Following A Jury Trial Of Threatening A Woman At The VA

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Carl Randle, 58, of Buffalo, NY, was convicted following a jury trial of menacing. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie O. Lamarque and Mary Catherine Baumgarten, who handled the prosecution the case, stated that the defendant was at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo, NY on May 16, 2016 receiving medical services. While waiting in a service line for at a coffee kiosk, Randle attempted to engage a woman who was also purchasing coffee. The woman declined to engage the defendant at which time Randle pulled out a gun, waved it around and threatened the victim.

Subsequently, the defendant walked away from the coffee kiosk area and proceeded to the third floor the VA and hid the gun in the medical center’s chapel. Randle was apprehended a short time later by VA police officers, who also recovered the weapon brandished by Randle. The gun upon inspection proved to be a BB gun. 

The verdict is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Veterans Affairs Police Department, under the direction of Chief Acting Stephen Coville and Special Agents of the United States Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Jeffrey G. Hughes.

Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy who presided over the trial of the case.