Home Buffalo Press Releases 2010 Wheatfield Business Owners Plead Guilty to Cocaine Charges
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Wheatfield Business Owners Plead Guilty to Cocaine Charges

U.S. Attorney’s Office September 29, 2010
  • Western District of New York (716) 843-5700

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Stephen Catone, 42, of Wheatfield, New York and Joseph Tomasino, 45, of Tonawanda, New York, pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine before District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $500,000, or both. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. McCabe, who is handling the case, stated that Catone and Tomasino stored, distributed and used cocaine during business hours from early to mid 2009 at bars and restaurants they owned in Wheatfield, New York. Catone is the owner of Papa Joe's on Niagara Falls Boulevard and Tomasino was part owner of J.T. Wheatfield's on Ward Road. The defendants obtained the cocaine from Keith Simmons, the leader of a large drug trafficking organization at the time.

The pleas are the culmination of an investigation on the part of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of James H. Roberstson, Special Agent in Charge, members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force, and police officers from the Niagara Falls Police Department under the direction of Superintendent John Chella and Amherst Police Department under the direction of Chief John Askey.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 24, 2010 at 12:30 before Judge Arcara.

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