Buffalo Man Sentenced on Drug Charges

BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Jermaine Howard, 38, of Buffalo, New York, who was convicted of using a communication facility (telephone) to facilitate a federal narcotics felony, was sentenced to 77 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Moscati, who handled the case, stated that Howard was intercepted during the execution of court-authorized wiretaps discussing and arranging illegal narcotics transactions with co-defendant David Manuel. Howard was arrested along with 19 others and charged with being involved in a multi-kilogram cocaine distribution network between Buffalo, New York, and Houston, Texas. To date, 18 of the 20 defendants have been convicted.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel; the Drug Enforcement Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Brian R. Crowell, New York Field Division; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Resident Agent in Charge Frank Christiano.