An Allegany County man who last month woke up next to a dead government witness in the Pharaoh’s strip club case is now the target of a witness tampering investigation, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Cooper told a judge that his office intends to file witness tampering charges against Simon P. Gogolack 39, of Wellsville. Gogolack already faces felony charges of conspiring to sell narcotics, maintaining a drug-involved premises and three firearms offenses. In an indictment that was unsealed Thursday, prosecutors said the deadly narcotic fentanyl is one of the drugs allegedly sold by Gogolack.
A previously convicted drug dealer, Gogolack has been been under federal investigation since Aug. 1, when former exotic dancer Crystal Quinn, 37, died in Gogolack’s home of what authorities suspect was a drug overdose.
Her family and her attorney said Quinn was scheduled to become a reluctant prosecution witness in the case against , owner of Pharaoh’s strip club in Cheektowaga. Gerace faces an upcoming trial on charges of drug-trafficking, sex-trafficking and bribing a federal drug agent.
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On Thursday, Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy ordered Gogolack to remain in jail after Cooper told him prosecutors have evidence of violent and dangerous behavior by the Wellsville man. Gogolack has been in the Niagara County Jail for several weeks.
FBI agents believe Gogolack made threats against at least two government witnesses, Cooper said, also alleging that Gogolack sometimes uses a “shotgun with spikes on it†to “beat people.â€
“But you haven’t charged him with witness tampering at this point,†McCarthy said.
The witness-tampering probe is ongoing, Cooper said.
“It’s not a matter of if we are going to charge him with witness tampering, but when,†Cooper said.
“This case is as serious as it gets,†Cooper told the judge. He added that the charges filed against Gogolack so far “are only the tip of the iceberg.â€
The prosecutor did not identify any of the witnesses who were allegedly threatened by Gogolack and did not specify in which criminal investigation the witnesses were involved. He did not say whether Quinn was among those threatened.
Gogolack’s attorney, Jeffrey Bagley of the federal defenders office, said Gogolack denies “most or all†of the allegations made against him by Cooper.
Cooper did describe a bizarre incident that, in his view, illustrates how dangerous Gogolack can be. The prosecutor said a drug customer who went to Gogolack’s Wellsville home was directed by Gogolack to the basement.
“There, the customer was told to sit in a white chair that was surrounded on three sides, ceiling to floor, with sheets of plastic,†Cooper said. “Gogolack made the customer sit there for three hours while he pointed a shotgun at him.â€
Cooper said federal agents also turned up evidence that Gogolack often solicits people who go to methadone clinics to become his drug customers.
“He makes a profit, makes a living, selling drugs to people who are trying to get well by going to methadone clinics,†Cooper said.
He also alleged that Gogolack offered firearms for sale to drug dealers, possessed body armor and used fake identification at times.
Bagley said Gogolack suffers from a serious drug addiction and asked McCarthy to order him to be sent to a drug treatment center, rather than jail.
Law enforcement officials said the FBI is continuing to investigate the death of Quinn, who was a close friend and former employee of Gerace. Gerace’s defense also planned to call Quinn as a witness.
Quinn was “scared to death†about testifying in the case, her mother told The Buffalo ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ earlier this month.
The Allegany County Coroner’s office has not determined the cause of Quinn’s death, Coroner Dylan Foust said Thursday afternoon. The witness died in Gogolack’s home, which was raided nine days after her death by FBI agents.
Robert Bolm, a former attorney for Gogolack, told The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ he believes federal authorities are trying unfairly to blame Gogolack, and perhaps Gerace for causing Quinn’s death. He said Gogolack found Quinn dead after waking up next to her in his home.
Bagley said Gogolack called 911 about Quinn’s death rather than trying to cover it up.
He said his client was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.â€