Tonawada Man Sentenced for Cocaine Trafficking

BUFFALO, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Keith Simmons, 35, of Tonawanda, N.Y., who was convicted of cocaine trafficking, was sentenced to eight years in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
   
            According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. McCabe, who handled the case, Simmons managed a drug-trafficking organization in Niagara County and northern Erie County which distributed at least 50 kilograms of cocaine from 2004 to the date of his arrest in July 2009. Simmons and other members of this drug trafficking organization sold cocaine at many locations, including Papa Joe's Restaurant on Niagara Falls Boulevard and J.T. Wheatfield's Bar and Restaurant on Ward Road in Wheatfield.

            Simmons was among 21 defendants arrested in July of 2009. All have been convicted.

            Today's sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Christopher M. Piehota,  officers from the Niagara County Drug Task Force, under the direction of Sheriff James Votour, the Niagara Falls Police Department, under the direction of Chief Bryan DalPorto the Amherst Police Department, under the direction of Chief John Askey.