Buffalo Man Going to Prison for 10 Years for Selling Fentanyl that Led to a Death
BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Octavio Cruz, 39, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, butyryl fentanyl, was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremiah E. Lenihan, who handled the case, stated that on December 27, 2018, Cruz sold a quantity of butyryl fentanyl to an individual identified as C.H. At approximately 9:17 p.m. that night, the West Seneca Police Department responded to a call for an unresponsive person. Officers discovered C.H. unresponsive and later confirmed C.H. was deceased. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death to be acute intoxication from butyryl fentanyl. Officers recovered C.H.’s cell phone, which contained text messages between C.H. and Cruz. In addition, officers recovered a small plastic bag that contained suspected heroin. Testing determined the substance to be butyryl fentanyl.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the West Seneca Police Department, under the direction of Chief Edward Baker, the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy Foley, and the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Eugene Staniszewski.
