Department of Justice
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Carlique DeBerry, 38, of Buffalo, NY, with distribution of fentanyl causing death and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in prison, a maximum of life and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wei Xiang, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, on February 25, 2016, the defendant distributed a quantity of fentanyl that was used by an individual identified as R.G. which resulted in R.G.’s death.
Details of the charges were not immediately available as a detention hearing — during which prosecutor’s typically set forth the facts underlying the charges contained in the indictment—which had been scheduled for this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer was cancelled. Instead, DeBerry agreed to be detained pending the resolution of the charge against him.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division and the Hamburg Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gregory Wickett.
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.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, under the direction of Michael C. Mikulka, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Region, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen, and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott Lampert.
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.