STAFF REPORTS
BUFFALO — U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. announced today that Kathyln Ventura, 25, of Lockport, NY, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, controlled substances. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan A. Tokash, who is handling the case, stated that in late December 2014, the defendant became a drug runner for Oliver Kimmons, who is named in a separate indictment on charges of narcotics distribution and human sex trafficking. Ventura drove Kimmons’s vehicle to conduct drug deals on his behalf.
On January 21, 2015, the defendant sold crack cocaine to a confidential source working for the DEA. On January 30, 2015, the defendant met with an individual identified as H.C. at a bowling alley in Lockport, New York and sold drugs to H.C. H.C. died hours later from a fentanyl overdose.
On February 12, 2015, the Niagara County Drug Task Force executed a New York State search warrant on Kimmons’s car which Kimmons was driving. The defendant was a passenger. Law enforcement officers seized fentanyl from inside the car. Kimmons and Ventura were arrested.
On March 4, 2015, a DEA confidential source again bought crack cocaine as well as heroin from the defendant.
Charges are pending against Oliver Kimmons. 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.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division, the Lockport Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Niethe, and the Niagara County Drug Task Force, under the direction of Sheriff James Voutour.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 7, 2018, at 11:30 a.m. before Judge Geraci.
