A Cayuga County woman is among 17 arrested after a major drug bust in Central New York.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the arrests Tuesday after a months-long investigation into a drug trafficking network that operated in Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Tompkins counties. The takedown by state and local law enforcement agencies seized more than 23 pounds of fentanyl worth over $625,000, roughly four pounds of cocaine worth more than $125,000 and over 12 pounds of methamphetamine worth more than $32,000.
More than $880,000 in cash, three illegal guns and two vehicles used to transport drugs were also seized.
According to the state attorney general鈥檚 office, the drug trafficking ring centered around Jaquan Jones, who is known as 鈥淔lame.鈥 The network distributed cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to buyers in Central New York.
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Authorities say Jones bought the drugs from Antonio Sanchez and other suppliers, then provided the drugs to several dealers. The dealers included Amanda Valenti, 41, of Genoa. Jones allegedly arranged drug sales over text message by notifying his customers to meet at a location, where he would sell to them at the same time. The dealers used code words for drugs, such as 鈥渟oft鈥 for cocaine, 鈥渇et鈥 or 鈥渇etty鈥 for fentanyl and 鈥渋ce鈥 for methamphetamine.
Jones, 31, of Syracuse, and Joshua Stimpson, 29, of Bridgeport, have been charged with operating as a major trafficker. If convicted, they face a mandatory life sentence in state prison.
The other defendants, including Valenti, have been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal sale of a controlled substance and conspiracy to commit those crimes.
The defendants include:
鈥 Etiem Berrios, 45, of Syracuse
鈥 Chase Cahoon, 39, of Rome
鈥 Cory Ching, 32, of Poland
鈥 Ronnie Evanciew, 29, of Taberg
鈥 Tyler Forshee, 30, of Cortland
鈥 Joshua Goyette, 47, of Freeville
鈥 Gary Jordan, 53, of Rome
鈥 Cody Lane, 29, of Rome
鈥 Nicole Lighthall, 29, of Forestport
鈥 Alexander Medina, 24, of Syracuse
鈥 Antonio Sanchez, 37, of New Rochelle
鈥 Autumn Schneider, 28, of Bridgeport
鈥 Heather Sharpsteen, 39, of Groton
鈥 Zachary Thornhill, 36, of Liverpool
The drug bust was part of the state attorney general鈥檚 Suburban and Upstate Response to the Growing Epidemic, or SURGE, initiative. Since it launched in 2017, SURGE has arrested 1,008 alleged drug traffickers.
鈥淭raffickers who flood our communities with fentanyl and other drugs are threatening the important progress New York has made in reducing overdoses and fighting the opioid crisis,鈥 James said in a statement. 鈥淭hanks to the hard work of this investigation and our law enforcement partners, we took more than 5 million deadly doses of fentanyl off our streets.鈥
New data from the CDC suggests threat of fentanyl is worsening in the U.S. as overdose deaths more than triple in five years.
