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Press Release

Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty To Multiple Drug and Gun Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Shane Corter, 32, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $10,000,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Astorga, who is handling the case, stated that on Friday, March 3, 2017, members of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence at 39 Greenfield Street in Buffalo. Law enforcement officers recovered numerous vacuum-sealed packages of cocaine; methamphetamine; and butyryl fentanyl; along with a quantity of marijuana, a scale, a .40 caliber handgun loaded with nine rounds of ammunition, and a magazine loaded with 10 live rounds of ammunition.

On Thursday, June 8, 2017, members of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the Chateau Motor Lodge at 1810 Grand Island Boulevard on Grand Island, NY, in a hotel room that was registered to the defendant. Officers recovered a .357 caliber handgun, one round of ammunition, a digital scale with white powder residue, cocaine, and suspected marijuana. The search warrant was conducted following a traffic stop of a car being driven by Corter. During the traffic stop, several hypodermic needles loaded with butyryl fentanyl were located, and the defendant stated he and two passengers in the car had just come from his hotel room at the Chateau Motor Lodge.

In January 2006, Corter was convicted of multiple drug offenses in Iredell County District Court, in Statesville, North Carolina, and is legally prohibited from possessing a gun.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert, and the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 13, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. before Judge Geraci

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Updated September 21, 2018