Niagara County Woman Sentenced on Drug Charges

          BUFFALO, N.Y.—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Roberta Hannon, 46, of the Town of Niagara, who was convicted of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine, was sentenced to 12 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Catherine Baumgarten, who handled the case, the defendant was arrested along with three others during the execution of a search warrant of a mobile home at 314 Quain Place, Town of Niagara, on May 3, 2012. Hannon resided in a mobile home at that address. During the execution of the search warrant, members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration seized, among other things, an active one-pot methamphetamine lab "cooking" on the stove in the kitchen, substantial quantities of precursor chemicals and ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine, a digital camera, spent blister packs from pseudophedrine tablets, and drug paraphernalia. The digital camera contained photographs of the defendant and others engaged in drug-related activity.

The defendant’s husband, Jason Hannon, was sentenced to 63 months in prison; her nephew Robert Gardiner was sentenced to 12 months in prison; and a third co-defendant, Keith Crossley, was sentenced to 37 months in prison.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Brian R. Crowell, Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Division, and members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force, under the direction of Sheriff James Votour.