BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that 51-year-old Gregory Trotter, of Williamsville, pleaded guilty to impeding an FBI investigation.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, in September 2022, an FBI Special Agent arranged to meet with Trotter, who was an Amherst Police detective at the time, regarding his involvement in a 2019 investigation of the alleged theft of a Rolex watch belonging to Peter Gerace.
Investigators said Trotter was questioned about his contact with Gerace and was asked multiple times whether Gerace had reached out to him while the investigation was active and Trotter said no.
The U.S. Attorney's office said that during the exchange, Trotter reacted with "disproportionate emotion and became physically animated, losing his professional bearing."
"Due to Trotter’s status as a trained law enforcement officer who was possibly armed, this conduct intentionally impeded the agent in the performance of his duties," a release says.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 22.
Gerace, Jr., the owner of the former Pharaoh’s Gentleman’s Club in Cheektowaga, was indicted back in 2021 for allegedly paying bribes to a former federal agent to avoid criminal investigations and prosecution.
In December 2024, a jury convicted Gerace of conspiracy to defraud the United States, bribery, sex trafficking conspiracy, maintaining a drug-involved premises, narcotics conspiracy, witness tampering and distribution of cocaine. Jurors acquitted him of one charge of witness tampering.
