Buffalo man indicted on cocaine and crack charges
Distributed drugs from two local businesses
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration New York Division, and U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., announced that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Derrius Cunningham, a/k/a Baby, 41, of Buffalo, N.Y., with conspiracy to distribute and distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine and maintaining a drug-involved premises. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $10,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles J. Volkert, Jr. and Brendan T. Cullinane, who are handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, between 2012 and Feb. 20, 2019 the defendant conspired with others to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine in the Box Avenue and Moselle Street area of Buffalo. The indictment also accuses Cunningham of using the residence at 304 Moselle Street and two businesses, LaPearlaboo’s Bar and Jeoni’s Wingstop, in furtherance of his drug trafficking activities.
The defendant was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer and was released on conditions.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Buffalo Resident Office; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, New York Field Division; the Lackawanna Police Department; the Erie County Sheriff’s Office; the New York State Police; and the Buffalo Police Department.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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