Buffalo Woman Sentenced On Fentanyl Charge

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Acting U. S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Brittney Ridgeway, 29, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, fentanyl, was sentenced to time served (approximately 16 months) in prison by U.S. District Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who handling the case, stated that during the course of the conspiracy, the defendant and her boyfriend, Dellsean Hamilton, sold heroin and fentanyl in the Buffalo and Cheektowaga areas. On March 25, 2015, Cheektowaga Police officers recovered $2,315 in cash and 145 envelopes containing almost four grams of fentanyl following a traffic stop of a vehicle in which Ridgeway and Hamilton were riding.

Subsequent investigation determined that Hamilton was a large volume heroin supplier in Buffalo and the surrounding area and Ridgeway assisted him in the distribution of the heroin and fentanyl. Hamilton was arrested on January 11, 2016, also on distribution charges. Following Hamilton’s arrest, law enforcement officers learned that Ridgeway continued to distribute heroin. Officers made controlled purchases of fentanyl from Ridgeway on February 4 and February 11, 2016. 

Hamilton was also convicted and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 28, 2017.

Today’s sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack; the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard; and the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division.