ELMA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Internal records obtained by the 7 News I-Team show an Erie County Sheriff’s Office deputy used his position to make a traffic stop as a favor for a friend.
Records show the deputy, Salvatore Vaccaro, then lied to investigators, withheld key information from prosecutors, falsified a police report, and later targeted the same driver through a Department of Motor Vehicles audit.
All of the allegations were sustained following an internal investigation. Discipline, however, did not come until nearly a year after the arrest.
The case centers on a late-summer 2024 DWI arrest in Elma. Body-camera video shows the driver, Michael Kubiszyn, admitting he had been drinking before failing field sobriety tests, according to the deputy, and being taken into custody. Kubiszyn was arrested and charged with DWI.
DISCIPLINARY RECORDS DETERMINE TRAFFIC STOP WAS NOT RANDOM
According to disciplinary records, investigators later determined the traffic stop was not random. Records show Deputy Vaccaro received a phone call from someone with a personal connection to Kubiszyn, asking him to make the stop as a favor, and that phone call was never disclosed to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office at the time of the arrest. Records show that Deputy Vaccaro withheld that evidence from the District Attorney's office until late January.
In February 2025, additional records obtained by 7 News show the criminal case was resolved with a plea to a lane violation. An Erie County District Attorney's Office spokesperson was unable to provide additional information and said the case has been partially sealed.
The records show that all other charges, including the DWI, were covered by the plea agreement.
DRIVER FILES FORMAL COMPLAINT WITH SHERIFF'S OFFICE
However, just days later, records show Deputy Vaccaro filed a complaint with the Department of Motor Vehicles involving Kubiszyn and his business, triggering a DMV audit. It was after that audit began that Kubiszyn filed a formal complaint with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. That complaint launched a Professional Standards investigation.
According to an employee misconduct accusatory instrument, investigators found that Deputy Vaccaro was untruthful during the internal investigation, falsely denied filing DMV complaints, and failed to disclose the phone call that preceded the DWI stop until early 2025, just before the DA’s Office offered the reduced plea.
Investigators also concluded Deputy Vaccaro falsified the original police report, intentionally withheld information from prosecutors, and knowingly engaged in conduct that did not meet department standards. The findings state Kubiszyn was targeted.
Every allegation outlined in the misconduct charges was sustained.
Deputy Vaccaro was later suspended without pay for two weeks, nearly a year after the traffic stop. By that point, Kubiszyn had lost his commercial driver’s license, undergone a DMV audit, and lived under a criminal case that never went to trial.
Kubiszyn is now the plaintiff in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, alleging violations of his constitutional rights.
DEPUTY WAS DISCIPLINED IN THE PAST
A previous 7 News I-Team Investigation found that Deputy Vaccaro had been disciplined in the past.
"He knew my client would be passing through on his way home, and posted up there, and when he saw his car, proceeded to follow him, and initiate a stop," His attorney, Melissa Wischerath, said.
Wischerath said the internal records tell a troubling story about how power was used and how long accountability took.
"I think the county is sending a message to deputies, 'Yep, go ahead and arrest people as favors for friends, like, make false statements on documents, when we ask you things under oath and you say you didn't do them, and then we show you did, that's OK, just go somewhere nice for two weeks in June, and come back on the third week,' it sends the message that that's acceptable," Wischerath said.
An Erie County Sheriff's Office spokesperson sent the following statement:
“Integrity, fairness and professionalism are hallmarks of the mission of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office. We employ a robust Professional Standards Division to ensure that those standards are met each day. As the allegations against Deputy Vaccaro relate to a personnel matter and are now the subject of pending litigation, we will have no further comment.”