Three sentenced for two deadly incidents

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Three men were sentenced on Friday to the maximum penalty after a jury convicted them in two separate robberies that turned deadly.

Ernest Green, Jr., 41 of Buffalo, and Daniel Rodriguez, 41 of Buffalo, were sentenced this morning before State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller to 75 years-to-life in prison. Both defendants received the maximum possible sentence following their convictions for the murder of a woman and the attempted murder of her two children in the Town of Tonawanda.

In August 2019, Green and Rodriguez broke into 31-year-old Danielle Cretacci’s residence on Ebling Avenue, shot her and her two daughters. Cretacci, died at the scene.

Her daughters were 8-years-old and 11-years-old at the time of the crime. One of the surviving victims pretended to be dead then watched from a window as the suspects fled before going to a neighboring house for help. Both victims were transported by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center, where they were hospitalized for their injuries.

The same jury convicted Green and Wayne Robbins, 27 of Buffalo, guilty of of all counts in the indictment for a separate crime involving the homicides of two victims in the City of Buffalo.

On Sept. 27, 2019, Green and Robbins murdered 21-year-old Bethany Malloy and 26-year-old Shaquiel St. John during a robbery inside a home on Merrimac Street. Both victims died at the scene.

Justice Boller sentenced Green and Robbins to life in prison without parole, the maximum sentence.

A fourth co-defendant, Sharee Bailey, 32, of Cheektowaga, pleaded guilty to one count of Robbery in the First Degree. Bailey, who remains held without bail pending sentence, faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when she is sentenced before Justice Boller on Tuesday, June 4 at 9:30 a.m. ET.

A fifth defendant was later charged for his alleged involvement in the robbery on Merrimac Street. The felony complaint was dismissed in Buffalo City Court on April 5, 2024.

"The families of Danielle Cretacci, Bethany Malloy and Shaquiel St. John have waited a long time for justice. These were brutal killings motivated by greed. I hope that the families of the victims feel a sense of legal closure as these three defendants have been convicted of all counts in the indictment and will spend the rest of their lives in prison," said Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane.