Lockport Woman Indicted On Drug Charges

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 a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Colette Arne, 66, of Lockport, NY, with distribution of oxymorphone and maintaining a drug-involved premises. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

  Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura A. Higgins, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, on November 5, 2013, and January 6, 2014, the defendant sold oxymorphone to a confidential source working with law enforcement officers. Following the second sale, Arne’s Applewood Drive residence was search with her consent. Officers recovered $24,200 in cash and empty prescription pill bottles. The prescriptions were issued to the defendant and her now-deceased husband.

Arne was arraigned this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and released.

The indictment is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.