ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A New York man and prior felon was sentenced to 16 years following an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Buffalo.
Walter H. Bennett, 34, of Rochester, New York, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 40 grams or more of fentanyl, 10 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue, and 500 grams or more of cocaine, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, was sentenced to serve 192 months in prison on Jan. 15 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Western New York.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey said Bennett, a two-time convicted felon, was a leader of a drug trafficking organization that distributed significant quantities of fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl (a lethal fentanyl analogue), and cocaine in the Rochester, and Augusta, Maine areas.
“The intent to distribute lethal fentanyl is a serious crime that demonstrates the defendant’s flagrant disregard for our community’s safety and wellbeing,” said HSI Buffalo Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan. “As overdose deaths linked to fentanyl continue to rise in America, there is no place in our neighborhoods for peddlers of this poison. Thanks to our partnership with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Rochester Police Department and the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team in our investigation leading to the sentence, we were able to remove a dangerous criminal off our streets.”
According to the investigation, Bennett and his co-conspirators operated a drug house on Woodward Street in Rochester, where they sold these drugs. They also stored controlled substances, firearms, magazines, and ammunition, at houses on Argo Park and Clairmount Street. During the investigation, law enforcement recovered approximately 158 grams of fentanyl, 11 grams of para-fluorofentanyl, and 580 grams of cocaine, along with more than $20,000 in drug proceeds, six firearms, including two stolen firearms and a defaced handgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and seven magazines.