LOCAL BRIEFS
Police intercept drug transaction
A 25-year-old man faces several drug-related charges after Niagara Regional Police seized $26,000 worth of heroin and crystal meth and more than $11,400 in cash from a Niagara Falls hotel room. Members of the NRP street crime unit from St. Catharines on Thursday were investigating an unrelated matter at a hotel in Niagara Falls when police observed a suspected drug transaction take place. An investigation revealed a tenant was on a recognizance for drug trafficking charges in Niagara. Police executed a warrant at the hotel room and the occupant was arrested. Charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime over $5,000 and three counts of failing to comply with a recognizance is George Athanasiou, of Seguin, Ont. He was held in custody. A New York resident who was arrested at the Peace Bridge after border officials found images of child pornography on his laptop will spend the next six months behind bars. Khadeem Mayers, of Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty Friday in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines to a charge of possession of child pornography and importing illegal material into Canada. Court was told the 23-year-old crossed the bridge into Fort Erie on June 6, 2016 and was referred to secondary inspection. Officials with the Canada Border Services Agency searched his laptop and found 70 images that met the definition of child pornography, said assistant Crown attorney Richard Monette. The images involved young girls between the ages of three and 12. Judge Joseph Nadel told the first-time offender it’s unfortunate he has a predilection to viewing “very nasty photographs.” After completing his jail sentence, Mayers must register as a sex offender with law enforcement and his name will be on the Sex Offender Registry for the next 10 years.
Six months for possession of child pornography Time served for Brampton man arrested
A man facing a charge of human trafficking in connection with an investigation into the sexual exploitation of a young woman at a Niagara Falls hotel pleaded guilty Friday to several counts of failing to comply with court orders stemming from the same investigation. Andre Davis, 23, was sentenced to time served after he pleaded guilty to the charges in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines. The Brampton man has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 24, 2017, after the Niagara Regional Police morality unit conducted an undercover operation at a Falls Avenue hotel involving the exploitation of a 20-year-old woman. Court was told the Sheridan College student rented a room at a Niagara Falls hotel and tendered his passport as proof of his identity. Hotel staff contacted police. Upon his arrest, police discovered the defendant was under several court orders issued in Peel in June 2016. Davis was not to leave his Brampton home and was to have no access to a device that connects to the internet. The human trafficking charge will be heard at a later date. Court was told police were unable to unlock a passwordprotected cell phone and that the device has been sent to a private institution to try to be unlocked.