Anthony Albert of Cheektowaga arrested for marijuana growing operation

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A Cheektowaga man was arrested at 1:30 a.m. Friday, May 6 after complaints from neighbors led to a police surveillance of the area.

Cheektowaga Police were watching the residence of a man living on Pleasant Parkway, after a multitude of residents in the neighborhood had complained of an increase in vehicle traffic and a pickup truck with a loud muffler frequenting the house in the very early morning hours.

Cheektowaga Police Officers, Michael Menth and Jeff Scaglione, observed a pickup truck with a loud muffler and subsequently saw a drug deal occur between the occupants of the vehicle and a resident on Pleasant Parkway.

The officers prevented the truck from moving and had to chase down male resident, Anthony Albert, 35, of 47 Pleasant Parkway.

Officers found cocaine on the individuals in the truck and the money used in the transaction with Albert.

Albert was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.
The truck occupants included Thomas Farruggio, 42, of Wayside Drive in Depew, Amy Farruggio, 35, of Benz Drive in Cheektowaga and David Torgalski, 42, of Gold Street in Buffalo.

They were arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Officers obtained a search warrant for the house at 47 Pleasant Parkway from Judge Thomas Kolbert.

Upon serving the warrant, the officers found crack cocaine and an indoor marijuana growing operating consisting of more than 30 marijuana plants.

Albert was additionally charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, third degree; criminal possession of marijuana, second degree; criminal use of drug paraphernalia, second degree; and unlawful growing of Cannabis.

Judge Kolbert arraigned Albert. His bail was set at $10.000 cash and $25,000 bond.

He was the sent to the Erie County Holding Center.

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Four defendants sentenced for selling prescription pills in Cheektowaga

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By: Nicole Gawel

Daniel Smythe, 23, of Cheektowaga, Lindsay Lang, 19, of Orchard Park, Sophie Wroblewski, 39, and Olivia Paschell, 40, both of Buffalo, were convicted of conspiring to distribute oxycontin pills. Chief District Judge William M. Skretny sentenced the offenders to probation.

The four defendants were arrested July 15, 2010 along with 22 others following a long-term investigation into the widespread illegal sale of prescription drugs in the City of Buffalo and its eastern suburbs. To date, 10 of the 26 defendants have been convicted.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. McCabe, Wroblewski and Paschell sold their oxycontin pills in the City of Buffalo. Smythe and Lang obtained oyxcontin pills from a source with ties to a prescription pill trafficking network. They distributed pills to customers in the Cheektowaga and Lancaster area.

The sentences are the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Dale Kasprzyk, in conjunction with many local and state authorities such as the New York State Police, the Buffalo Police Department, the Cheektowaga Police Department, the West Seneca Police Department and the Lancaster Police Department.

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Marijuana growing operation busted in Town of Hamburg

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At 1:41 p.m. on Monday, April 11, the Town of Hamburg Police Narcotics Unit, Detectives Bureau and Officer Joseph O’Brien executed a search warrant for the rear residence at 3828 South Creek Road in the Town of Hamburg.

What the officers found when they entered the residence was over 5 pounds of marijuana which was packaged for sale located all through the house.

There were also two marijuana growing operations in the basement.

“These plants were in a meticulous growing operation,”  Captain Kevin Trask said. “This looks to be an operation where the suspects grew the plants themselves, harvested the leaves, dried them, packaged them and then sold them to customers.”

While executing the search warrant, which was signed by Hamburg Justice Walter Rooth, police found a Remington .22-caliber rifle with its stock cut off in a bedroom closet.

“As soon as anyone cuts off a stock of a rifle, it makes it illegal,” said Trask. “By doing this you have now made a weapon that is concealable,  a hand gun.”

According to police, inside the house they also found digital scales and other items that are believed to be used to process the marijuana.

The plants were taken to Central Police Services in the City of Buffalo, where they will be dried and then weighed. It is estimated that once this is done, there will be over 9 pounds of marijuana. The value of the marijuana was placed at $18,000.

Other items seized were six UV lights, six power supplies, a money counter, a safe, a computer, two cell phones and $900, which was found in a bedroom dresser drawer.

Taken into custody were Joseph M. Curcie, 21, and Ceara E. Hoffman, 19, both of the South Creek Road address, as well as Samuel B. Gardner, 20, of Buffalo.

Found in Gardner’s possession was a driver’s license of a Levittown resident, along with that person’s Bank of America Visa debit card, police said. The owner was being contacted by police.

Curcie and Hoffman were charged with felony second-degree criminal possession of a marijuana and felony third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, defaced for concealment.

Gardner was charged with felony second-degree criminal possession of marijuana.

All three suspects were arraigned before Hamburg Justice Gerald P. Gorman, who released them all on their own recognizance to return to court at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 28.

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