BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Erie County District Attorney's Office announced that 51-year-old Michael J. Cremen of Mountain Home, Arkansas, formerly of Franklinville, was sentenced in State Supreme Court to one year in jail.
The district attorney's office said Cremen's sentence has already been served due to his time in pre-trial custody. After his court appearance Thursday morning, he was taken to the Erie County Holding Center where he will be processed and released later in the day.
According to the district attorney's office in August 2020, Cremen used racial slurs while threatening protesters with a knife, and pushed one protester, during a demonstration on Hertel Avenue near Parkside Avenue in Buffalo.
Cremen was released on his own recognizance following the incident and according to the district attorney's office, he repeatedly failed to appear in court. A bench warrant was issued after he knowingly failed to appear in court in February 2022 and then failed to appear for the rescheduled court appearance in March 2022.
He was taken into custody in December 2022 in Arkansas by the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office on an outstanding bench warrant and an indictment warrant for bail jumping. He was extradited to Western New York by the U.S. Marshals Service and held without bail.
Cremen pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree menacing as a hate crime and one count of second-degree bail jumping in November 2023.
The district attorney's office said as part of the plea the judge agreed to sentence him to one year in jail. He was released from pre-trial custody on the day of the plea.
