Depew man sentenced for entering secure area at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport
BUFFALO, N.Y. / Friday, October 16, 2026 -U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that James R. Muench Jr., 47, of Depew, NY, who was convicted of entering aircraft or aircraft area, was sentenced to serve five years’ probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine by U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr.
On May 20, 2025, Muench drove his vehicle up to a closed security gate outside the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. He initially stopped at the gate, but then repeatedly rammed his vehicle into the gate, eventually bending the metal gate. Muench then drove his vehicle through the damaged and partially open gate and continued onto the aircraft operational area of the airport. Muench drove 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, where aircraft take off and land.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Franz M. Wright. The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police, under the direction of Chief Brian Patterson and the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Allen D. Davis, II.
# # # #
Contact
Barbara Burns
716-843-5817
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York
