Final Defendant In Drug Gang That Operated In A Local Housing Project Pleads Guilty

BUFFALO, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Tarrell Hendrix, 35, of Lackawanna, NY, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skrenty to possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, crack cocaine. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremiah Lenihan and Laura A. Higgins, who are handling the case, stated that the defendant was arrested in December 2014 along with 19 others and charged with engaging in narcotics trafficking in the Gates Housing Project, a housing facility owned and operated by the Lackawanna Municipal Housing Authority. Hendrix sold a quantity of crack cocaine to an individual working with investigators on two separate occasions in August 2014.

During the course of the drug trafficking operation, Hendrix and his co-defendants conducted open air drug sales in and around the public housing project including hand to hand transactions. This was done in close proximity to playgrounds and recreational areas where children living in the housing project would play.

Hendrix is the final defendant to be convicted in this case.

The indictments are the culmination of an investigation by the Lackawanna Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Michel, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Street’s Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert. Additional assistance was provided by the U.S. Marshal Service, under the direction of Marshal Charles Salina, and the Tonawanda Police Department, under the direction of Chief Jerome Uschold. 

Sentencing is scheduled for October 2, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. before Judge Skretny.