DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Western District of New York

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, August 24, 2016
William J. Hochul, Jr.
, United States Attorney
Contact: Barbara Burns

Buffalo Man Sentenced for His Role in Setting a Buffalo Business on Fire

BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Lowell Carey, 56, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of arson of a commercial building, was sentenced to 41 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who handled the case, stated that on June 13, 2014, Carey, along with co-defendants Ryan Smolinski and Christopher Gorman, went to 349 Ontario St., occupied by WNY Property Contractors, and threw a Molotov cocktail onto the roof of the building and placed another Molotov cocktail underneath a garage door on the side of the building.

On the night of June 12, 2014, the three defendants were drinking at Carey’s house. Smolinski was upset about his father losing his business, Western New York Property Contractors, which his father co-owned with another individual. Smolinski asked Carey and Gorman if they would help him burn the building. They agreed and made the two Molotov cocktails from beer bottles they had been drinking from and using gasoline and a t-shirt as a wick.

Smolinski, Carey, and Gorman proceeded to Western New York Property Contractors in the early morning hours of June 13, 2014 and set off the Molotov cocktails. The outside of the building was burned in the areas where the Molotov cocktails were located resulting in approximately $2,207.89 in damages.

Carey and Smolinski have been convicted and sentenced, Gorman has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing

Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Charlie J. Patterson, and the Buffalo Fire Department, under the direction of Commissioner Garnell Whitfield.   

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New York Field Division