Former Store Owner Sentenced On Synthetic Drug Charges

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051
 
     Rochester, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Amber Snover, 24, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of using a communication facility to facilitate a controlled substance, was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to forfeit $771,109 in United States currency by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr.

     Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Noto, who handled the case, stated that the defendant used a telephone to order various synthetic controlled substance analogues. Snover ordered the synthetic drugs for Charles Fitzgerald and others at the 420 Emporium located in Batavia, NY. A total of $771,109 in United States currency was seized during the execution of a search warrant at the residence Snover shared with Fitzgerald on West Hills Estates in Rochester on July 25, 2012.

     Fitzgerald was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison. Three employees of Fitzgerald’s who worked at the 420 Emporium stores located in Batavia and Henrietta, NY have also been convicted and sentenced.
 
     The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency, under the direction of James J. Hunt, New York Field Division, and investigators from the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET), under the direction of Major David Krause.