2020 File Photo
Two weeks after accepting a plea offer on a rape charge, an Erie County man already serving 13 years in federal prison on related charges was sentenced in County Court today to four years in prison.
The sentence for Nicholas Turnquist, 37, will run concurrent to his federal term as well as a related four-year term out of Erie County.
Neither Assistant District Attorney Will Zickl nor the defense attorney, Joseph Lobosco, made any argument regarding a potential sentence before Judge Melissa Lightcap Cianfrini issued her ruling.
Turnquist didn't make a statement in court and the victim in the case declined to make a statement because she's spoken at previous hearings about the impact of Turnquist's crimes on her life.
A decade ago, Turnquist, who most recently lived in West Falls, reportedly engaged in sexual activity with a minor in multiple jurisdictions, including Genesee County, Wyoming County, Erie County, Pennsylvania and Canada.
He was indicted by a grand jury on counts of rape in the third degree, a Class E felony, and sexual abuse in the first degree, a Class D violent felony, in connection with a crime in Darien on Aug. 23, 2014. He was arrested locally in 2020 following an investigation by Howard Carlson of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office.
The only real discussion in court today was about a request by Turnquist that Cianfrini order the Sheriff's Office to hold him in Genesee County, instead of returning him to Alleghany County until he's returned to custody in Buffalo.
Lobosco said his client told him that he's taking several medications. When he gets transferred from one jail or prison facility to another, the administration of his medication gets disrupted, and he wants to keep taking his medication. Cianfrini said she didn't have the authority to order the Sheriff or the U.S. Marshalls on transportation and housing, but she said it was her understanding that the Marshalls were going to pick Turnquist up in Genesee County to return him to federal custody.
