Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn has announced that 68-year-old Howard Farrell of Blasdell pleaded guilty before Erie County Court Judge James Bargnesi to one count of attempted sexual abuse in the first degree, a Class “E” felony.

The defendant admitted that on March 15, he attempted to subject a juvenile female to sexual contact by forcible compulsion at a location in the Town of Hamburg.

Farrell faces a maximum of four years in prison when he is sentenced on Thursday, June 20 at 9:30 a.m.

DA Flynn commends Detective Scott Fraser of the Town of Hamburg Police Department for his work in the investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Katharine S. Lavin of the DA’s Special Victims Bureau.