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Press Release

Rochester Man Pleads Guilty To Fentanyl Trafficking And Causing Non-Fatal Overdose

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of New York

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

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Soroush Hamedi, 27, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 40 grams or more of fentanyl, before Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years, and a $5,000,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant was part of a group of individuals who ran a drug house at 192 Weaver Street in the City of Rochester. The defendant and others sold quantities of fentanyl and cocaine from the house between January 2018 and February 25, 2020. The defendant admitted to trafficking between 160 and 280 grams of fentanyl during the conspiracy.

On February 25, 2020, special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement personnel executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence at 19 Dale Street, Rochester, New York. At the time, the defendant was present inside the residence. During the search, the investigative team recovered, among other things, a clear plastic bag containing 10.064 grams of fentanyl in the basement ceiling at the bottom of a vent pipe after the defendant threw the bag down the vent.

As part of his guilty plea, the defendant admitted to selling a quantity of fentanyl to a 27-year-old female who later suffered a non-fatal overdose.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan, New York Field Division; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter; the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 6, 2021, at 3:00 p.m., before Chief Judge Wolford.

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Updated September 7, 2021

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Opioids