Prosecutors get plea deal for multiple violent attacks in the Falls
May 23—LOCKPORT — A New Jersey man, charged in connection with a series of violent assaults in the Falls, has pleaded guilty to four separate attacks in 2021.
The pleas came on the eve of jury selection for trials in all four cases against Quennel R. Jordan. During a hearing this week, Jordan, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of attempted second-degree assault.
He admitted to assaulting an individual with a baseball bat in July 2021, after having attempted to assault another person with a baseball bat in June 2021. Jordan also admitted that he "stomped" a person during an incident outside a gas station in July 2021, while also assaulting another person a month earlier.
Niagara County prosecutors said the pleas "resolves several cases that have been pending in County Court since September 2021." He'll face a prison term of 10 to 15 years behind bars for his convictions.
A New Jersey native, Jordan had been living in the Falls for about eight months, when Falls Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) detectives and agents with the U.S. Marshals Violent Felony Fugitive Task Force arrested him and another man in connection with a brutal assault outside a mini-mart in the 900 block of Pine Avenue on July 29, 2021.
Along with Jordan, Eddie Thomas, 22, of the Falls, was charged with second-degree assault for his role in the attack.
Task force agents and Falls police detectives said they found Jordan at a Ninth Street apartment building, just off of Pine Avenue, the day after the mini-mart attack.
Falls Police patrol officers said they responded to the mini-mart at around 10:15 p.m. after multiple reports of a fight at that location. When officers arrived on the scene, they found a 34-year-old male victim lying on the ground near some gas pumps.
Officers said the man was "motionless and unresponsive." The victim was transported by ambulance to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, where he was treated for multiple facial fractures.
Detectives said that they were able to determine that after beating the victim into unconsciousness, Thomas and Jordan continued to assault him as he lay on the ground. Witnesses said the victim was "having his head stomped" by his attackers.
In addition to the Pine Avenue attack, detectives tied Jordan to at least two other violent assaults and a drug possession and sales investigation. He faced charges in connection with a July 19 attack in the 600 block of Ninth Street. Detectives said that Jordan attacked a 62-year-old man with a baseball bat in that incident.
Investigators also tied Jordan to a June 15 incident where he was accused of hitting a 53-year-old man over the head, with an unidentified object, in the 700 block of Eighth Street.
Child attack suspect found guilty
On Wednesday, after less than two hours of deliberations, a Niagara County Court jury convicted Gregory M. Pearson, 34, of the Falls, of seven counts of predatory sexual assault against a child. The sexual attacks occurred in the Falls between 2017 and 2021.
Pearson faces up to 50 years to life in prison when he is sentenced, in July, by Niagara County Court Judge Caroline Wojtaszek.
"The jury swiftly convicted the defendant of horrible crimes committed against vulnerable children," Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman said. "We will be asking the judge to impose a life sentence that makes sure he will never come into contact with a child again."
