Monday, May 28, 2012

Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges


BUFFALO—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Joseph Marble, 29, of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara to using a communication facility to commit a controlled substance. The charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Moscati, who is handling the case, stated that the defendant was intercepted on a telephone call, pursuant to a court-authorized wiretap, setting up an illegal narcotics transaction.

Marble is one of 20 defendants who were charged in May 2011 for their involvement in a multi-kilogram cocaine distribution network between Buffalo, New York and Houston, Texas. He is the second defendant to be convicted.

The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota; the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Wilbert L. Plummer; Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Division; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Resident Agent in Charge Frank Christiano.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 6, 2012 at 12:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Arcara.

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