Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

       BUFFALO, N.Y.-- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr., announced today that Angel Gonzalez, 38, of Buffalo, N.Y., pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum 40 years, a fine of $5,000,000.00, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George C. Burgasser, who is handling the case, stated that between 2006 and December 2010, the defendant conspired with two co-defendants to possess and distribute cocaine in Buffalo. The defendants stored cocaine and the proceeds of drug sales at Gonzalez’s residence on Auburn Avenue in Buffalo. The defendant was paid for allowing the money and drugs to be stored at his residence.

“This case should serve as a reminder to criminals that you don’t have to be the individual selling drugs in our community to be arrested,” said U.S. Attorney Hochul. “If you assist others in filling the streets with dangerous and potentially deadly narcotics, you will be prosecuted as if you committed the crime yourself.”

The defendant was arrested in December 2012 along with Renwick Samuel and Mica Donadelle. Charges are pending against Samuel and Donadelle. 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 plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Safe Streets Task Force of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.