Fentanyl dealer going to prison for 144 months

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Wayne McDaniels, 42, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute 10 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, was sentenced to serve 144 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. McGrath, who is handling the case, stated that in November 2022, investigators executed a search warrant at McDaniels' Maria Street apartment. Law enforcement seized over 400 individually packed bags of fentanyl, significant quantities of bulk fentanyl and cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and two loaded firearms. The search warrant was part of a larger investigation into a group of drug dealers that had been selling fentanyl and crack cocaine from various drug houses for years. McDaniels was a leader in the group. One of these drug houses included a Jay Street residence, where McDaniels' six-month-old nephew died from a fentanyl overdose on August 1, 2022.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter, the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Smith, the Ontario County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of David Cirencione, and the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (GRANET).

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