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Riford Media
On October 7, 2024, Kevin Riford was arrested by deputies from the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office. In this article we want to focus here on a critical issue: alleged evidence tampering involving one specific officer.
On October 8, 2024—one day after Kevin’s arrest—two officers returned to his residence. One of them was Officer Guy Fratello, who had been present during the initial arrest. The identity of the second officer remains unknown. During this visit, one of them retrieved a knife from Kevin’s porch—an item the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office has since referenced in an evidence photo they may intend to use in their case.
This raises serious legal and procedural concerns. Proper evidence protocol dictates that any items to be used in a criminal proceeding must be collected at the time of arrest or during the execution of a lawful search. In this case, the so-called “evidence” was left unsecured on Kevin’s front porch for an entire night before being tampered with the following day.
This evidence tampering undermines the integrity of the evidence and, by extension, the case itself. When law enforcement retrieves supposed evidence outside the proper legal timeline—especially without securing the scene—it constitutes evidence tampering.
I’ve asked the Niagara County District Attorney’s office about the whereabouts of this evidence and the identity of the Officer who was tampering with it. They have no idea. Not shocking as their evidence department and lab has numerous allegations against them. source: https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/niagara-county-forensics-lab-nys-violations/71-ac2fcf53-ab51-4219-9f29-9f655146c09a
Thankfully, this evidence tampering was caught on doorbell camera. It makes you wonder why they left a knife (“evidence”) on the porch overnight only to comeback and tamper with it the next day. What were they planning on doing with that knife? It’s obvious it didn’t make it to the evidence room.
You can see the Niagara County Sheriff’s Officer reach down to pick up a knife. He then proceeds to move his arm with knife in hand to the other porch ledge. Where did the knife go?
Pictured: Guy Fratello (left) and Unknown Officer (right) on October 8, 2024, one day after Kevin’s arrest.
Pictured below: Additional still photos of the evidence tampering
Thanks for reading!