Buffalo Man Sentenced On Drug Charges

CONTACT:     BARBARA BURNS
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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Gregory Pendziwiatr, 46, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute fentanyl, was sentenced to 15 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

     Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Catherine Baumgarten, who handled the case, stated that Pendziwiatr and co-defendant Mary Moran sold prescription fentanyl patches to another co-defendant, Barbara Moran. Co-defendant Barbara Moran sold the fentanyl patches to others in the City of Buffalo including a third co-defendant Jordan Warunek.

     Jordan Warunek and Mary Moran were also convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute fentanyl and were sentenced to two years probation and one year in prison respectively. Barbara Moran will be sentenced by Judge Arcara on February 2, 2105.

     “Narcotics which are trafficked illegally do not always originate from outside the country, or Western New York,” said U.S. Attorney Hochul. “Sometimes, persons with valid medical prescriptions choose to become nothing more than neighborhood drug dealers by selling that which a doctor intended for their benefit. This Office will prosecute any who would poison the community by trafficking in addictive or deadly substances such as fentanyl, regardless of how the person acquires the product.”

     The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division, and the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zach.