Former Store Owner Pleads Guilty To Charges Involving Synthetic Drugs

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

Rochester, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Amber Snover, 24, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to using a communication facility to facilitate a controlled substance felony offense. The charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Noto, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant used a telephone to order various synthetic controlled substance analogues. Snover ordered the synthetic drugs for Charles Fitzgerald and others at the 420 Emporium located in Batavia, NY. As part of her plea, the defendant will forfeit $771,109 in United States currency that was seized during the execution of a search warrant at the residence Snover shared with Fitzgerald on West Hills Estates in Rochester on July 25, 2012.

Fitzgerald was convicted of will be sentenced by Judge Geraci on April 15, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. Three employees of Fitzgerald’s who worked at the 420 Emporium stores located in Batavia and Henrietta, NY have also been convicted and are awaiting sentencing.

The plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency, under the direction of James J. Hunt, New York Field Division, and investigators from the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET), under the direction of Major David Krause.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 23, 2015, at 10 a.m. before Judge Geraci.