Two More Opioid Dealers Sentenced For Their Roles in Elmira Drug Trafficking Ring

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Anthony J. Prettyman, 28, of Elmira, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 100 grams or more of a fentanyl analogue, was sentenced to serve 125 months in federal prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. In addition, Judge Geraci sentenced Dwayne Banks, 30, of Elmira, NY, to serve 108 months in federal prison for his conviction on the same offense.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who handled the case, stated that both defendants were part of a large-scale opioid manufacturing and trafficking organization that operated in the Southern Tier of New York between 2015 and May 2017. As members of the organization, Prettyman and Banks were mid-level dealers of blue pills containing furanyl fentanyl and U-47700 in the Elmira area. The blue pills were manufactured by the leaders of the organization – Robert Ian Thatcher and Maximillian Sams – and made to look like legitimate 30 milligram Percocet pills.

Prettyman admitted to selling pills to various customers, including a 21 year-old female who ultimately died of drug overdose from using the pills. In addition, Prettyman admitted to smuggling more than 5,300 pills containing furanyl fentanyl to North Carolina in October 2016. Prettyman was caught by the Iredell County (North Carolina) Sheriff’s Office transporting the pills in the false bottom of a fake paint can.

To date, 16 members and associates of the opioid manufacturing and trafficking operation have been convicted of federal narcotics offenses. Seven defendants have been sentenced:

Thatcher was sentenced to serve 23 years in federal prison; Thatcher’s girlfriend, Amber Bates, who was convicted of money laundering conspiracy, was sentenced to five years probation to include six months of home detention; Robert J. Elford was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison; Edward Barrett was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison; Dusty Pemberton was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison; Deven Hill was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison; and Isaiah McLaurin, who was convicted of witness tampering after threatening an individual working with the Drug Enforcement Administration on Facebook, was sentenced to serve 57 months in federal prison.

Today’s sentencings are the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Rochester Resident Office and Scranton PA Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan, New York Field Division; the New York State Police, Community Narcotics Enforcement Team Southern Tier, under the direction of Major Mary Clark and Lieutenant Kevin P. Sucher; the Elmira Police Department, under the direction of Chief Joseph Kane; Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New York Field Division; the Pennsylvania State Police, under the direction of Acting Commissioner Lieutenant Colonel Robert Evanchick; the Chemung County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Christopher J. Moss; the Iredell, NC County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Darren E. Campbell; and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Unit, under the direction of Director Brian Manaher. Additional assistance was provided by the Northeast Regional Laboratory.