Ithaca Man Sentenced to 60 Months on Drug Trafficking Conviction

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Robert Payne, age 39, of Ithaca, New York, was sentenced today to serve five years (60 months) in prison for his conviction for participating in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Field Division, Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York State Police Superintendent Keith Corlett, Sheriff Eugene Conway, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, and William J. Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County District Attorney.  The defendant was also ordered to serve a period of four years supervised release following his term of incarceration, and to forfeit to the government $112,500 in proceeds from his drug trafficking activity. 

Pursuant to his plea agreement in this case, Payne admitted that during the summer of 2018, he distributed roughly 2.5 kilograms of cocaine to his co-defendant Daitwaun Fair.  This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the New York State Police, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Commandeur.