Final 'Party House' defendant sentenced to probation

May 22—LEWISTON — The last adult defendant in what came to be known as the "Lewiston Party House case" has finally been sentenced.

During a hearing Tuesday in Lewiston Town Court, Justice Hugh Gee sentenced Gary Sullo to three years of probation. Sullo, 58, was the second of two adult defendants who pleaded guilty to a trio of misdemeanor charges for providing booze and pot to teenagers in a Mountain View Drive home.

The sentencing came more than six years after reports of the parties, at the home that Sullo shared with his late wife Tricia Vacanti, were first investigated.

Sullo had been charged with multiple counts of endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful dealing with a child but ultimately pleaded guilty to just two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in a deal with Niagara County prosecutors.

Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman expressed satisfaction with the closing of the party house criminal case.

"My office took a very firm line in Mr. Sullo's case," Seaman said. "We offered him no plea reduction and he pleaded guilty to the highest charges against him. He was subject at sentencing to the same punishment he would have been subject to had he been found guilty of all counts after trial."

Sullo's sentence follows the sentencing of the other surviving adult in the case, Jessica Long. Long, 43, was sentenced by Gee in January to six months of interim probation for her guilty plea to one count of first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child. If Long successfully completes the term of probation, it's expected that Gee will grant her a final sentence of a conditional discharge on the misdemeanor count.

Seaman contrasted the difference in the sentencing for Sullo and said his prosecutors had asked for a sentence that included incarceration.

"My office did not agree to a probation sentence and asked the court to sentence the defendant to jail time," the district attorney said. "I do, however, understand the court's sentence as the defendant pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and has no prior criminal record."

Sullo, who now resides in Florida, will be supervised by probation authorities there.

Long is expected to receive her final sentencing in mid-to late June.

Sullo and Long pleaded guilty just days before jury selection for their trial was slated to begin in September. The pleas meant that Sullo and Long could have both faced time in the Niagara County jail.

But Gee signaled that he would likely sentence them both to probation, pending the results of a pre-sentence investigation by the Niagara County Probation Department. Gee also said that if the pre-sentence report led him to change his mind on sentencing the pair to probation, he would allow Sullo and Long to withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial on their charges.

Sullo and Long were the remaining adult defendants accused of providing alcohol and marijuana to groups of teens who would gather at the home Sullo shared with Vacanti. Vacanti was accused of providing pot and liquor to the teens who attended the parties in her home.

She had faced 41 counts of unlawfully dealing with a minor and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the house parties. But she died, suddenly, on July 3, 2022, and the charges against her were set aside.

Specifically, Vacanti had been accused of providing booze and pot to at least three teenage girls, who later claimed they were sexually assaulted in her home by her then-teenage son, Christopher Belter.

Belter was indicted, and pleaded guilty in June 2019, to felony charges of third-degree rape and attempted first-degree sexual abuse and two misdemeanor charges of second-degree sexual abuse for encounters with four teenage girls that occurred during the parties at the family's home in 2016 and 2018.

In November 2021, Belter was sentenced to eight years of sex offender probation. A month later, he was classified as a Level 3 sex offender.

Level 3 is the most serious classification and legally indicates a "sexual predator." Belter was also declared a sexually violent offender.

One of his victims, whose identity is being withheld by the Gazette, has claimed that she is "unsure" if Belter is abiding by the terms of his probation.

"His probation officer says he's following the rules she's given him, but it doesn't look like that to me," the victim said.

Sullo and Vacanti were originally charged with 19 combined counts of unlawfully dealing with a minor and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the parties at their home from 2016 to 2018. In January 2020, Niagara County prosecutors leveled an additional 22 counts of endangering and unlawful dealing against Vacanti and another eight counts of the same allegations against Sullo.

Long was charged with single counts of unlawfully dealing with a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.