LOCKPORT — A Falls community activist and former mayoral candidate has been given another adjournment of his sentencing in a felony burglary case to allow him more time to raise the restitution he needs to avoid a state prison term.
Demetreus Nix has been given until the end of July to raise the $32,000 he owes in restitution to a Pierce Avenue property owner. Nix had been scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for his guilty plea to a trio of charges stemming from a January 2023 break-in at a Pierce Avenue home that he had been hired to renovate.
However, Niagara County Court Judge John Ottaviano granted Nix an adjournment of his sentencing after he was told that the community activist needed “more time” to be able to pay the restitution.
Nix, who was originally charged in a grand jury indictment with counts of third-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief and petit larceny, pleaded guilty in February to a single count of attempted second-degree criminal mischief, an E-level felony. The owner of Nix Construction and Property Management and founder of the Entrepreneur School of Thought, Nix faces a possible prison term of 1 1/3 to four years in prison, but as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Ottaviano has told Nix that he will sentence him to “no more than 1 year in the Niagara County jail,” if he pays $32,000 in restitution to his victim before his sentencing.
The sentencing postponement on Thursday is at least the second time that Nix has asked the court to delay closing his case in an effort to pay the restitution.
“(Nix) caused an extensive amount of damage to the victim’s property,” Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman said after Nix’s plea. “He should pay restitution and (have) some additional punishment for that.”
At that time, Nix said that he accepted the plea deal because he felt it would allow him and his family to “move forward.”
The charges against Nix stemmed from a break-in at a home in the 1100 block of Pierce Avenue on Jan. 16, 2023. Nix was also linked to a reported burglary at an apartment building in the 500 block of 20th Street, between Jan. 18 and 19, which is under the control of the same owners as the Pierce Avenue property,
He was never charged in connection with the 20th Street incident.
Nix was originally arrested by Falls police on a criminal complaint days after the two January burglaries. He was initially charged with second-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree grand larceny in connection with the break-in which resulted in an estimated $30,000 in damages to the property and the alleged theft of $1,500 in construction equipment.
The property was being renovated by Rod Davis, a Western New York developer, whose firm, Power City Ventures, LLC, had been designated by the city as the preferred developer for a housing renovation project that was eligible for up to $1 million in reimbursable grant funds through the state’s Restore New York program. Davis has since withdrawn from the renovation project.
Nix claimed that Davis owed him $13,000 for work his construction company performed at the Power City-controlled properties in the Falls. Specifically, Nix claimed that he was owed money for work done at a property owned by a David-controlled subsidiary known as Akeed, Incorporated.
A police report on the Pierce Avenue burglary listed the property as owned by Akeed Incorporated.
In a 2023 interview with the Gazette, Nix admitted that he had been inside the Pierce Avenue property. But he insisted that he was only there to do renovation and repair work for Davis. He denied, at that time, committing a burglary.
Nix, who served nine years in prison following his guilty plea to a manslaughter charge as a teenager, challenged incumbent Falls Mayor Robert Restaino in the June 2023 Democratic mayoral primary election. He also ran for mayor in the 2023 general election on the We All We Got party line.