Homeland Security Task Force Investigation Leads To Conviction of Albany Man For Crack Cocaine Sales

Kymere Thomas, 28, of Albany, New York, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Anthony Brindisi on October 5, 2026, to distributing crack cocaine. First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

Between March and August 2025, Thomas sold over 50 grams of cocaine, and over 580 grams of crack (cocaine base), in eight separate transactions. In one of these transactions alone Thomas sold 292 grams of crack, for which he was paid over $11,000. When officers searched his residence, they found another 650 grams of cocaine and 15 grams of crack. Thomas was arrested in September 2025 and remained on pre-trial release until his guilty plea, when he was remanded to custody.

First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III stated, "We will aggressively work to dismantle the drug-trafficking networks that threaten the safety of our communities. Our work is far from over, and this guilty plea shows those who choose to spread dangerous narcotics that we are coming for you. I am grateful to our law enforcement partners for arresting him and that he is finally off our streets."

"By his own admission, Mr. Thomas was responsible for trafficking an enormous amount of cocaine into our communities," said Craig Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Albany Field Office. "FBI Albany's Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) responded with the full weight of its federal, state, and local partnerships, and now Mr. Thomas is heading to federal prison for a least a decade. The FBI is laser-focused on investigating and holding accountable any criminal looking to endanger our communities through the sale of illegal drugs."

Thomas faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years, followed by a minimum term of 5 years' supervised release. A defendant's sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statutes the defendant is convicted of violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors. Thomas's sentencing has been scheduled for January 27, 2027.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Walter prosecuted the case.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Buffalo comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, ATF, IRS Criminal Investigations, Department of Homeland Security Emergency Removal Operations, Customs and Border Protection, the DEA, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Diplomatic Security Service, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York.