BUFFALO, N.Y. — Three people are facing charges after law enforcement officials seized 14 kilos of cocaine during an investigation.
The Erie County Sheriff's Office says deputies surveilled two people at a hotel, and a third suspect at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Jan. 18.
Investigators say they observed a California man, Timothy Tucker, 48, arrive on a flight from Detroit that originated from Los Angeles, then leave in a vehicle to travel to a home in Buffalo.
A short while later, investigators say they observed Chastity Banks and Loany Gato-Aronategui at a hotel and traveling to the same Buffalo residence, an Airbnb on Pine Street.
Erie County SWAT team members forced entry into the home and took Tucker and Gato-Aronategui into custody. Deputies detained Banks following a traffic stop in Buffalo.
The home and vehicle were searched by narcotics and intelligence officers, as well as the FBI, Safe Street Task Force and Buffalo Police. Officers found 13 kilogram bricks of cocaine in a secret compartment of the vehicle and one kilogram of cocaine in the garage in a bucket.
"At the time of the search warrant I will say this, they were dismantling the vehicle to retrieve the narcotics from the vehicle," said DJ Granville, Chief of Narcotics & Intelligence at the Erie County Sheriff's Office.
Tucker is charged with one felony count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 8 ounces or more, and one felony count of criminal possession of a narcotic with intent to sell.
Banks, 23, of Los Angeles is charged with a felony count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 8 ounces or more, and one felony count of criminal possession of a narcotic with intent to sell.
Gato-Aronategui, 19, of Henderson, Nev., is also charged with a felony count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 8 ounces or more, and a felony count of criminal possession of a narcotic with intent to sell.
"This right here, if it got down to the street-level dealer, all right, is going to be cut with fentanyl, along with other stuff as well, okay, to make it more profitable, but when it gets cut with fentanyl, and a user doesn't know that, and snorts that thinking it's just pure cocaine, that can kill you," Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said.
All three defendants have been arraigned in court and are currently being held in the Erie County Holding Center.
"These individuals who are now charged, while innocent until proven guilty, they would have been walking out the door of Buffalo City Court and heading back to California, and God knows where from there, if the changes, the sensible change wasn't made to bail reform," Flynn said.
The investigation took more than three months. Before finding the 14 kilos of cocaine on Wednesday night, prosecutors say investigators found two kilos of cocaine and six kilos of cocaine on two other occasions.
That totals more than 48 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $2 million. Prosecutors believe the cocaine originated in Mexico and was driven to Buffalo via California in the SUV's secret compartments.
"This drug pipeline that they interrupted is part of a transnational criminal organization also known as the Sinaloa drug cartel. This is evidence that the problems on the Southern border have reached Erie County," Erie County Undersheriff William Cooley said.
Prosecutors also say the investigation is far from over and there could be more arrests.