Amber Alert suspect held by feds

Mar. 5—BUFFALO — A Depew man who has already pleaded guilty to Pennsylvania state charges in connection with the alleged kidnapping of a North Tonawanda teen, who faces local rape and criminal sex act counts, and who was arraigned Tuesday on federal sex crime charges, will be held in custody without bail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Roemer ordered Michael Mesko "detained without bail" after a detention hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.

Mesko, 50, has been charged with enticement of a minor and production of child sexual abuse material in a federal criminal complaint. The charges carry a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life behind bars.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mesko had been held at the Venango County (Pennsylvania) prison after his arrest by Pennsylvania State Police when they encountered him on Feb. 16 at a rest stop just off Interstate 80 near Harrisville, Pennsylvania. He had been the subject of a multi-state Amber Alert, issued the previous night by North Tonawanda police.

During a preliminary hearing on Feb. 24, in Venango County Court, Mesko pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a controlled substance and criminal mischief. Prosecutors withdrew seven other charges, including counts of endangering welfare of children, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and driving at an unsafe speed.

Court records did not indicate if Mesko had been sentenced for his guilty pleas or what potential sentences he may have faced. But Pennsylvania authorities continued to hold him in custody on what were described as "a pair of criminal detainers," from the U.S. Marshals Service and Niagara County District Attorney's Office.

U.S. Marshals brought Mesko back to Buffalo to face federal charges on Tuesday.

North Tonawanda Police detectives said at the time of the Amber Alert that they were working with agents from the Buffalo field office of the FBI to investigate the abduction of a 17-year-old girl. But agents assigned to the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force first began looking into Mesko's actions after NTPD detectives arrested him Feb. 4 on claims that he had been engaging in repeated sexual acts with the teenage kidnapping victim.

On Thursday, Seaman expressed satisfaction with Mesko's detention.

"We know he's in a place where he's not a threat," Seaman said. "And we'll assess our charges."