Apr 10
2025
Notorious Buffalo slumlord Charles Dobucki arrested
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2 St. Louis Place, owned by Dobucki. Photo courtesy of WKBW.
Buffalo Police this morning arrested one of the city’s most infamous and elusive landlords, whose blighted properties have been the subject of community complaints, Housing Court cases and most recently a partial demolition order for a long-vacant Allentown building.
Charles Dobucki was taken into custody at a Delaware Avenue auto shop in North Buffalo, according to Mike Read, spokesman for Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon. Dobucki was subject to three arrest warrants stemming from his failure to appear in Buffalo Housing Court or respond to citations and fines for code violations, according to a statement from Scanlon’s office.
“Through my renewed focus on neighborhood policing, increased patrols, and exemplary detective work, we are sending a clear message that property neglect and disregard for the law will not be tolerated in Buffalo,” Scanlon said in the statement.
Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski expressed gratitude for Dobucki’s arrest.
“For over six years, my office has worked to hold him accountable as my constituents endured the consequences of his neglect,” Nowakowski said in a statement. “This arrest is a long-overdue step toward justice for the residents of Allentown and the City of Buffalo at large.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomDobucki’s dilapidated properties — some of them vacant for as long as two decades — have been a headache for neighbors and community groups for years. Last July, Nowakowski, state Sen. Sean Ryan and neighborhood advocates held a press conference in front of his blighted property at 2 St. Louis Place, adjacent to the parking lot of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church at the corner of Main and Edward Streets.
The three-story vacant building sits across the street from the apartment where artist Mickey Harmon and his partner Jordan Celotto were murdered last month.
In the wake of that murder, Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon ordered city work crews to tear down a rickety porch and fire escape structure on the outside building. That work began this week. Scanlon also ordered Buffalo police to find and arrest the absentee property owner, who has long eluded city officials.
For all his notoriety has an absentee landlord, not much is known about Dobucki. He has addresses listed in Buffalo and Provincetown, Massachusetts. Neighboring property owners and city officials believe he lives out of town. Most of his properties’ neighbors have never seen him. Not even a picture of him can be found.
Former Buffalo Housing Court Judge Patrick Carney put out several warrants for Dobucki’s arrest over the years, as he refused to pay fines or appear in court for his derelict properties. Nowakowski said Dobucki has been jailed before, but the punishment resulted in no improvements to his properties or his behavior.
“I remember previous judges telling me that he was laughing. He literally thinks it’s a joke,” Nowakowski said.
In addition to the Housing Court warrants, Dobucki was charged with “false impersonation,” according to the statement from the mayor’s office. Read, the mayor’s spokesman, said Dobucki pretended to be someone else when police apprehended him.
Police reports obtained by Investigative Post show that cops have visited 2 St. Louis Place more than 100 times in the past decade. Among the incidents precipitating the visits were reports of suspicious persons, narcotics activity, and, in October 2020, a dead body.
Nowakowski advocated for the city to initiate abandonment proceedings on 2 St. Louis, along with Dobucki’s other holdings. Nearly three years ago, Preservation Buffalo Niagara took one of his Allentown properties through receivership — a measure by which an organization, working with the city, can acquire, rehabilitate and sell neglected properties. The Safe Buffalo Housing Court Act, passed by the state in the 1970s, in the 1970s, a receiver to collect rent or other revenue generated by a property and use the money to fund emergency repairs.
Bernice Radle, executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, said Thursday that she commended Scanlon and his administration for locating and apprehending Dobucki. She said she’s currently trying to work with the city so her organization can take ownership of, repair and sell two other properties owned by Dobucki, including 2 St. Louis.
“They could have easily said, ‘We’re just going to tear this down and be done with it,'” she said of the city’s efforts to rehabilitate 2 St. Louis. “But they’re not so I really do give them credit because this is not the easy way to go through it.”
Preservation Buffalo Niagara currently holds $100,000 from the sale of 40 Cottage Street in 2022. The funds could be used to fix other Dobucki properties, but not until they’re declared abandoned and acquired through another receivership process. Radle said she ultimately wants to see the properties “brought back to life.”
“I want to see them paying taxes, being renovated, as homes for people,” she said. “We have an affordable housing crisis.”
Andre Sadoff, the purchaser of 40 Cottage Street, said he had one interaction with Dobucki when he inquired about buying a property from him. He said he found Dobucki to be “confrontational and egotistical” and was unable to negotiate a deal with him.
Before Preservation Buffalo Niagara stepped in, Sadoff said, parts of 40 Cottage had “rotted” and been occupied by squatters. According to an inspection reports from 2016, the property had broken windows and doors, deteriorating gutters, overgrown weeds and a damaged roof.
“It’s just so difficult and disappointing that we’re in this housing crisis, where we don’t have enough housing available to people, and then an individual like this can let so many places go vacant for so long,” Sadoff said.
Sadoff was a friend of Harmon, who with his partner Celotto was murdered across the street from 2 St. Louis Place on March 4. Sadoff said he holds Dobucki partly responsible for the murders.
“The likelihood is high that St. Louis Place’s abandonment contributed to that guy being in that neighborhood,” Sadoff said.
Nowakowski said that some neighbors believe Bryan Chiclana – the man who accused of killing Harmon and Celotto – may have been squatting in Dobucki’s property.
Dobucki does pay his property taxes — usually at the final hour to prevent foreclosure proceedings, according to Nowakowski.
But he’s currently trying to cut his tax liability, too.
Dobucki recently filed a challenge to the city’s reassessment of four of his Allentown properties, including 2 St. Louis Place. The city assessed the taxable value of the St. Louis Place property at $450,300. Dobucki’s lawyers argued in court papers its taxable value should be set at $75,000.
He has asked for significant reductions in assessed value for properties at 377 Maryland, 102 Johnson Park, and 42 Cottage.
All four properties have had been cited for code violations and attracted 311 complaints:
2 St. Louis Place:
- 27 code violations from 2016 to 2024; 10 active
- 49 311 Calls from 2009 to March 2024
377 Maryland:
- 5 active code violations from 2024
- 17 311 calls from 2010 to May 2024
102 Johnson Park:
- 5 active violations from 2024
- 27 311 calls from 2008 to 2022
42 Cottage:
- 18 code violations from 2022 to 2024; 8 active violations
- 45 311 calls from 2009 to 2023
Investigative Post reporter J. Dale Shoemaker contributed to this report.
