BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that a Depew man has pleaded guilty to entering a secure area at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, on May 20, 2025, 45-year-old James R. Muench Jr. drove his vehicle up to a closed security gate outside the airport and, after initially stopping at the gate, he repeatedly rammed his vehicle into the gate, which bent the metal gate. Muench then drove his vehicle through the damaged gate, continued onto the aircraft operational area of the airport and through various secure parts of the airport including the inner airfield roads, aircraft taxiways, the commercial passenger aircraft ramp area, and the active airport runways.
Muench pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr., to entering aircraft or airport area, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $100,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15.
