BUFFALO, N.Y. - Acting U. S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Brittaney Ridgeway, 27, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, fentanyl before U.S. District Richard J. Arcara. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who is handling the case, stated that during the course of the conspiracy, the defendant and her boyfriend, Dellsean Hamilton, sold heroin and fentanyl in the Buffalo and Cheektowaga areas. On March 25, 2015, Cheektowaga Police officers recovered $2,315 in cash and 145 envelopes containing almost four grams of fentanyl following a traffic stop of a vehicle in which Ridgeway and Hamilton were riding.
Subsequent investigation determined that Hamilton was a large volume heroin supplier in Buffalo and the surrounding area and Ridgeway assisted him in the distribution of the heroin. Hamilton was arrested on Jan. 11, 2016, also on distribution charges. Following Hamilton’s arrest, law enforcement officers learned that Ridgeway continued to distribute heroin. Officers made controlled purchases of heroin from Ridgeway on February 4 and Feb. 11, 2016.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation by the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack; the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard; and the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 20, 2017, at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
