Chris Cain Convicted of Racketeering, Sentenced to 29 Years Seven Months in Federal Prison

BUFFALO, NY— Chris Cain, 36, formerly of Barker, New York, and currently in federal custody, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to 29 years seven months in federal prison, Acting United States Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter announced today. Cain had been found guilty of five felony counts by a U.S. District Court jury on December 7, 2007 following a seven (7) week trial in front of Chief Judge Arcara.

In its verdict, the jury had found Cain guilty of three arsons (including one carrying a mandatory consecutive 10 year prison sentence), with masterminding the home invasion robbery of a Yates, New York home in which a woman was tied up with electrical cord and repeatedly threatened with a shotgun, and with marijuana trafficking.

In sentencing Cain, Chief Judge Arcara denied all of his attorney’s objections to the facts upon which the Court based the sentence and told Cain that he had been a part of a group that had terrorized parts of Niagara and Orleans Counties. Chief Judge Arcara also noted that Cain had taken part in the arson of the personal car of a Niagara County Sheriff’s deputy to intimidate the deputy after he had tried to arrest Cain’s cousin, Paul Rutherford, Jr.

The trial was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony M. Bruce and Charles B. Wydysh.

The investigation that led to the convictions was the result of the efforts of multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional task force consisting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under the direction of Resident Agent in Charge David DeJoe, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department under the direction of former Sheriff Thomas Beilein, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department under the direction of Sheriff Scott D. Hess, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Laurie Bennett.