Unlicensed bounty hunter who held pregnant woman, toddler at gunpoint arraigned on 10 charges
Buffalo NY June 7 2021 An unlicensed bounty hunter was arraigned Friday on misdemeanor charges that he forcibly entered a Buffalo home in January armed with what appeared to be a rifle or shotgun and unlawfully searched the residence looking for the homeowner’s fugitive brother, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.
Dennis J. White, 35, of Buffalo, pointed the gun at the homeowner, his fiancé and two upstairs tenants, placing them in reasonable fear of injury or death, according to the indictment. Three children were home at the time.
The homeowner’s surveillance camera provided video and audio from the front porch that showed a bounty hunter pounding on the door around midnight. The homeowner, Jake Reinhardt, asked from behind the closed front door, “Who’s that?”
Then, the bounty hunter raised his shotgun and said, “Open the door.”
Another bounty hunter said, “He’s in the window.”
“Open the door, now!” shouted the bounty hunter with the shotgun.
Several Buffalo police officers were at the scene of the late-night raid and did nothing as the bounty hunter pointed the gun at the homeowner and confronted others in the home, according to a federal lawsuit the home’s occupants filed against the City of Buffalo in February.
A lawsuit alleges that without showing a warrant and without consent, two bail recovery agents searched a home aided by Buffalo police officers.
“The Buffalo Police Department sat back and watched every one of those misdemeanors being committed,” said attorney R. Anthony Rupp III, who represents the home’s occupants and attended the arraignment.
The bounty hunter forced Reinhardt outside at gunpoint, shirtless and shoeless on a cold January night, without showing a warrant and without consent from anyone in the home on Oakdale Place in the city’s Seneca Babcock neighborhood, according to the federal lawsuit.
White was arraigned before Erie County Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes on a ten-count indictment charging him with the following misdemeanors:
- Two counts of criminal trespass
- Four counts of menacing
- Three counts of endangering the welfare of a child
- One count of criminal mischief
White was searching for Reinhardt’s brother, who was wanted on a bench warrant from Lebanon County, Pa. He had his bond revoked for failure to appear in court in Lebanon, where he was charged with misdemeanors for simple assault, retail theft and driving while operating privileges were suspended or revoked, according to the lawsuit.
White was released on his own recognizance. The judge ordered him to remain in New York State and to stay away from those involved in the incident.
A return court date has not been scheduled.
If convicted of all charges, White faces a maximum of one year in jail.
Buffalo News
