Charges — Niagara
The Man With Four Trafficking Counts Was Let Go on an Undertaking and the Woman With One Was Held for Bail: Niagara’s 2 District Street Crime Unit Takes 117 Grams of Fentanyl Off Desson Avenue and Will Not Say Who the Other Two Arrested Were (September 18, 2026)
NIAGARA FALLS — Four people were taken out of a house on Desson Avenue before six in the morning. Two of them were charged and named. Two of them were arrested on warrants and are not identified anywhere in the release. And of the two who were charged, the one facing four counts of trafficking walked out on a promise to come back, while the one facing one went to a bail hearing.
The Warrant
In September 2026 the Niagara Regional Police Service’s 2 District (Niagara Falls/Niagara-on-the-Lake) Street Crime Unit opened an investigation into the sale of controlled substances at an address on Desson Avenue in the City of Niagara Falls. Detectives applied for and were granted a judicial search warrant for the residence.
The warrant was executed on Thursday, September 17, 2026 at approximately 5:37 a.m. Three other units came to the door with 2 District: the Emergency Task Unit, the 1 District (St Catharines/Thorold) Street Crime Unit and the 3 District (Welland/Pelham) Street Crime Unit. That is the force’s tactical team plus street crime units from two neighbouring districts, on a residential address, for a seizure that came to a hundred and seventeen grams.
The Inventory, With the Force’s Own Valuations
- 117 grams suspected fentanyl — street value $11,700.
- 18 grams suspected methamphetamine — street value $900.
- 300 hydromorphone tablets — street value $1,500.
- 150 oxycodone tablets — street value $1,500.
- $2,900 in Canadian currency.
The Arithmetic Police Did Not Print
Add the four valuations and the drugs come to $15,600. The NRPS gives each line separately and never totals them. Run the per-gram rate and the force is working at exactly $100 a gram for fentanyl, $50 a gram for methamphetamine, $5 a tablet for hydromorphone and $10 a tablet for oxycodone — round numbers throughout, which is worth knowing about any police street-value figure.
Set the $2,900 in cash against the $15,600 in product and note what the charge reflects: both accused face possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime under $5,000, which is consistent with the cash on hand and says nothing about the value of what was being sold.
Four Counts and an Undertaking
Todd Petkovich, 62, of Niagara Falls is charged with four counts of possession of a Schedule I substance for the purpose of trafficking — one for each of the four substances seized — and one count of possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime under $5,000. Five counts in total. He was released on a Form 10 undertaking with a future court date.
Amanda Spence, 49, of Niagara Falls is charged with one count of possession of a Schedule I substance for the purpose of trafficking — the release does not say which of the four substances — one count of possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime under $5,000, and one count of failing to comply with a probation order. Three counts in total. She attended a bail hearing the same day at the Robert S. K. Welch Courthouse, 59 Church Street, St Catharines.
The difference between the two outcomes is almost certainly the third count on Spence’s sheet. A person alleged to have breached a probation order while committing a fresh offence is in a materially different position at the station than a person with no order over them, regardless of how many trafficking counts each is facing. The NRPS does not explain the divergence, does not say what the probation order was for, when it was imposed, or how long it had left to run.
The Two Who Are Not in the Story
The final sentence before the tip line reads, in its entirety: Two additional occupants were arrested within the residence on the strength of outstanding warrants.
That is all. No names. No ages. No communities. No indication of what the warrants were for, which jurisdiction issued them, or whether either person was charged with anything arising out of the house they were found in. They are counted in the headline — the release is titled “Four Arrested” — and then dropped. Two of the four people arrested in this file exist in the public record only as a number.
Same Day, Same Courthouse, Two Hours Later
One further detail sits oddly. The warrant went in at 5:37 a.m. on September 17 and Spence attended a bail hearing on Thursday, September 17 — the same day. That is a fast turnaround from a pre-dawn arrest to a bail court appearance, and the release does not say what the outcome of the hearing was. Whether Spence was released, detained, or remanded to a further date is simply not published.
What Is Still Not Reported
No house number on Desson Avenue. No month or duration for the investigation beyond “in September 2026,” which puts its start somewhere in the sixteen days before the warrant. No reason given for the Emergency Task Unit’s attendance — no firearm, weapon or threat is mentioned anywhere in the seizure list or the charges. No packaging, scales, phones or trafficking paraphernalia are listed, which is unusual in a trafficking file. No identification of which substance underlies Spence’s single trafficking count. No outcome of her bail hearing. No court date for Petkovich. No identification of the two occupants arrested on warrants. No officer is quoted and no investigator is named. And no gang, club or criminal organization is named anywhere in the release.
The incident number is NRPS 26-118100. Neither named accused has entered a plea and none of these allegations has been tested in court.
Desson Avenue — September 2026
Primary Sources
- Niagara Regional Police Service: “Four Arrested in Drug Trafficking Investigation by 2 District Street Crime Unit”, published Sep 18, 2026 under the Media Releases category, byline Niagara Regional Police Service. The release is the source for the September 2026 opening of the 2 District Street Crime Unit investigation, Desson Avenue in the City of Niagara Falls as the address, the judicial search warrant, the execution at approximately 5:37 AM on September 17, 2026, the assistance of the Emergency Task Unit and the 1 District and 3 District Street Crime Units, the complete seizure list with the force’s own per-item street values, both accused by name, age and community, every count against each as worded, Petkovich’s release on a Form 10 undertaking with a future court date, Spence’s bail hearing on Thursday, September 17, 2026 at the Robert S. K. Welch Courthouse at 59 Church Street in St Catharines, the arrest of two additional occupants on outstanding warrants, the tip line, and incident number 26-118100.
- The $15,600 total, the per-gram and per-tablet rates ($100/g fentanyl, $50/g methamphetamine, $5/tablet hydromorphone, $10/tablet oxycodone), and the count of five charges against Petkovich and three against Spence are this briefing’s arithmetic on the force’s own published figures. The NRPS publishes no totals and no rates.
- The inference that Petkovich’s four trafficking counts correspond to the four substances seized is this site’s reading of the release, which lists four substances and four counts but does not expressly pair them. The release does not identify which substance underlies Spence’s single trafficking count, and none is asserted here.
- The suggestion that the probation-breach count explains the difference in release conditions between the two accused is this site’s observation, offered as such. The NRPS gives no reason for the divergence and no particulars of the probation order.
- The observations that no house number, no investigation start date, no paraphernalia, no bail outcome, no court date for Petkovich, no identification of the two occupants and no officer quote appear in the release are absences on its face, not findings by this site. The release also gives no reason for the Emergency Task Unit’s attendance, and no firearm or weapon appears anywhere in the file.
- The Niagara Regional Police Service names no gang, criminal organization or outlaw motorcycle club in this file and makes no association allegation against either accused. None is named or inferred here, and no profile page on this site is linked, because police have connected no organization covered by one to this file.
- These allegations have not been tested in court and both named accused are presumed innocent.