Buffalo Man Sentenced for Robbery and Extortion

BUFFALO, N.Y.—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Kashika Speed, 42, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of robbery and extortion, was sentenced to 16 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph M. Tripi and Joel L. Violanti, who handled the case, stated that sometime before February 23, 2005, the defendant and others conspired to commit the robbery of cocaine and U.S. currency from an individual involved in the distribution of cocaine on the Buffalo area. On February 23, 2005, the defendant and others went to the victim’s residence in Buffalo, restrained the victim, brandished a firearm, abducted the victim, and threatened to kill the victim unless the individual provided the defendant and his accomplices with cocaine.

As a result, the victim made a phone call to one of his associates, who placed a bag containing two kilograms of cocaine on the porch of a residence in Buffalo. After the defendant and his accomplices secured the bag containing the kilograms of cocaine, they released the victim. 

Speed was arrested along with three others in this case. Charges are pending against Thamud Eldridge, Kevin Allen, and Galen Rose. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James S. Higgins, New York Field Division.