Michael Pacheco

OBSERVER Staff Report

BUFFALO — Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that a federal grand jury has returned a six-count indictment charging Fred A. Santiago, 29, and Michael Pacheco, 27, both of Dunkirk, with conspiracy to distribute and distribution of 5 or more kilograms of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine, and maintaining a drug premise.

The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, a maximum of life and a $1,000,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan A. Tokash, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, on May 2, a state search warrant was executed at Santiago’s residence. Law enforcement officers allegedly seized scales, a heat sealer, heat-sealing bags, a drug press and over 600 grams of suspected cocaine.

On the same day, members of the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force reportedly stopped Pacheco’s vehicle and seized an amount of cocaine that was secreted away inside a potato chip bag.

The defendants were arraigned Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. and are being held pending detention hearings on June 2 at 11:45 a.m.

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 Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force, under the direction of Cattaraugus County Sheriff Timothy Whitcomb; and the Dunkirk Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Ortolano.