(WNY News Now) – A Depew man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to leaving a dog inside a hot vehicle in Cheektowaga, resulting in the animal’s death from heatstroke, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.
Michael J. Keane announced that Daniel J. Kowalczyk, 29, pleaded guilty Thursday morning in Cheektowaga Town Court before Justice John J. Wanat to one count of Confinement of Companion Animals in Vehicles: Extreme Temperatures, a violation under New York State Agriculture and Markets Law.
Kowalczyk was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay $225 in fines.
The charge stems from an incident on Sept. 16, 2025, when Cheektowaga Police Department responded to a parking lot in the 2500 block of Walden Avenue after receiving a report of a deceased dog inside a vehicle…