Buffalo Man Sentenced On Drug And Gun Charges

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

BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Ricky Lee Pyzikiewicz, 29, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm, was sentenced to 37 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Wolford.
 
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Catherine Baumgarten, who handled the case, stated that on November 15, 2010, law enforcement officers searched the defendant’s residence on Maurice Street in Buffalo. Officers seized baggies later determined to contain cocaine and marijuana as well as a rifle and ammunition.
 
  The search was part of an ongoing criminal investigation into narcotics trafficking by Pyzikiewicz and co-defendant Ashley Marie Gnocchini, 29, of Cheektowaga, NY. During the morning hours of November 15, 2010, officers had set up an undercover purchase with the defendants. As Pyzikiewicz and Gnocchini drove to the area of Milestrip Road and McKinley Parkway in Hamburg, NY, Orchard Park, NY police officers pulled over the car the two were riding in. Pyzikiewicz appeared to hide something under his seat. A Hamburg Police Department canine unit responded to the scene, and alerted for the presence of narcotics.  A subsequent search was conducted and quantities of cocaine were recovered.
 
Gnocchini was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
 
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction Special Agent in Charge Delano A. Reid, the Orchard Park Police Department, under the direction of Chief Mark Pacholec, and the Hamburg Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gregory Wickett.