Buffalo Woman Pleads Guilty To Drug Charges

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

BUFFALO, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Jennifer Courton, 30, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute fentanyl, before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $10,000,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler, who is handling the case, stated that between July 2013 and May 2015, Brandon Coburn, a licensed nurse practitioner who was legally authorized to prescribe controlled substances, provided fraudulent prescriptions for fentanyl, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and amphetamine to nine co-defendants, including Courton. Those prescriptions were not used for legitimate medical purposes and instead were filled by the co-defendants and sold on the street in the Buffalo area. In addition to filling the illegal prescriptions, Courton also recruited other co-defendants to fill prescriptions written by Coburn.  In addition, some of the sales of the illegal narcotics were  made from Courton’s Vermont Street residence in Buffalo.  

To date, nine defendants charged in this investigation have been convicted. Charges are pending against Calvin Elston. 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.

Today’s plea is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of James J. Hunt, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Division.

Courton is scheduled to be sentenced on February 21, 2018, at 1:00 p.m. before Judge Arcara.