Adult in Lewiston party house case avoids jail time on child endangerment charges

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — An adult in the case of a Lewiston party house that was known for loud underage drinking parties and a sexual assault at the home in 2017 has avoided jail time, the Niagara County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

Gary Sullo, 58, was sentenced to three years of probation for two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, connected to him providing alcohol to minors at the Mountain View Drive home in Lewiston between 2016 and 2018.

Sullo was one of three adults to be charged. Jessica Long, Sullo's neighbor, was sentenced to six months of interim probation in January. Sullo's wife, Tricia Vacanti, was arrested on similar charges in 2018, but she died in 2022.

Sullo and Vacanti’s home was known as a party house and became notorious in the area for loud and out of control underage drinking parties. In 2019, a Lewiston teen was sentenced to two years of interim probation for the rape of a girl during a party at the home in November 2017. The parents of the victim also sued Sullo, Long and Vacanti in 2019.

A civil complaint filed on behalf of the victim in Erie County State Supreme Court claimed that Sullo and Vacanti were aware that multiple minors had been sexually abused by the teen prior to the 2017 sexual assault at the home.

Prosecutors were seeking jail time for Sullo. He was not offered a plea reduction and he pleaded guilty to the highest charges again him.

"He was subject at sentencing to the same punishment he would have been subject to had he been found guilty of all counts after trial. My office did not agree to a probation sentence and asked the court to sentence the defendant to jail time," Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman said in a release. "I do, however, understand the court’s sentence as the defendant plead guilty to misdemeanors and has no prior criminal record.”