Buffalo Man Sentenced On Gun Charges

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Erick Pizarro, 37, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm, was sentenced to serve 84 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Astorga, who handled the case, stated that on June 9, 2015, the Buffalo and Lackawanna Police Departments a search warrant at the defendant’s Schuele Avenue residence. Officers recovered bags of heroin, a digital scale with heroin residue, a sifter with heroin residue, a spoon with heroin residue, a bottle of cutting agent, ammunition, and a loaded firearm.

On April 9, 2003, Pizarro was convicted of Attempted Robbery in the Second Degree in Erie County Court and sentenced to 30 months in prison. As a result, he is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Gary Loeffert, Special Agent-in-Charge, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Byron Lockwood, and the Lackawanna Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Michel.