BUFFALO, N.Y. — BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A federal court judge ordered the owner of Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club in Cheektowaga to remain in custody ahead of his trial.
Peter Gerace was arrested and arraigned last week accused of witness tampering.
Gerace will remain locked up ahead of his federal trial on charges that he paid bribes to a retired DEA agent to keep him away from his business where federal prosecutors also allege drug deals were being made.
Cameras are not allowed in federal court, but Judge John Sinatra decided after hearing arguments both Friday and Monday at the detention hearing that Gerace, who owns Pharaoh's, should not be allowed to remain at home on supervised release as he awaits the start of his trial.
At issue were Facebook messages from 2019, from before Gerace's 2021 arrest. He was charged just last week with witness tampering for allegedly sending a threatening Facebook message to a potential witness.
The judge sided with prosecutors on Monday afternoon. The prosecutors declined to speak on camera, but argued that Gerace is a danger to the community and a flight risk.
Monday, his attorneys argued he should be allowed to stay home before his trial. We spoke with them outside the courthouse.
"Peter is not a flight risk. Peter is not out committing crimes, and the judge had a pre-written decision that his honor read remanding our client to custody pending trial," said defense attorney Steven Cohen.
After the hearing, the defense attorney also told us he's waiting for evidence in case to get ready for the trial on the 2021 charges.
"We have begged the U.S. Attorney. We have said in open court, we need evidence of him having committed a crime, and the claim is they don't have to turn that over to us until we get closer to trial, so I don't know how we prepare Peter. We'll sit there twiddling our thumbs because we have no evidence to review," said Steven Cohen.
Gerace's trial is scheduled to start in June.