Lockport man facing more fentanyl-related charges | Crime

A Lockport man who was previously charged for possessing fentanyl is facing more charges following another arrest this week.

The Lockport Police Department and Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force executed a raid at the residence of Bruno J. Haney II on Thursday where they again found him in possession of fentanyl.

Haney, 29, 329 Prospect St., was charged on Thursday with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, after police executed a search warrant signed by Judge Richard Kloch.

Linda J. Bars, 70, 329 Prospect St., lower apartment, was also charged on Thursday with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Haney and Bars are both set to appear in court again on Monday. Haney’s bail is set at $1,000 and Bars’s is set at $2,500.

In January, Haney was charged at a state level with three counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and one count of third-degree criminal possession of narcotics, after a Niagara County grand jury handed up an indictment and the county Drug Task Force executed a search warrant at his residence.

Those actions followed a 21-month investigation of suspected drug activities in which Haney was involved, task force Capt. Scott Lombardo said at the time. The task force arranged “controlled” drug buys with Haney and purchased fentanyl or derivatives of fentanyl, Lombardo said.

The county charges against Haney presently involve fentanyl only.

While fentanyl is outlawed in New York state, derivatives of fentanyl are not, so the county is approaching the U.S. Attorney’s Office about charging Haney under federal law. Both fentanyl and its derivatives are illegal in the federal penal code, Lombardo said.

The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, James P. Kennedy Jr., announced in February that Haney, along with James O. White, 27, and Marissa L. DeCarlo, 26, both of Lockport, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, heroin, butyryl fentanyl, and fentanyl that resulted in serious bodily injury and death.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life.

White was charged on Jan. 22 with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance after he was picked up by members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force and the Orleans County Major Felonies Crime Task Force. He has been accused of selling of giving fentanyl-laced heroin to Wade Sargent, who died from an overdose in a Medina residence on March 25, 2017.

Law enforcement believes that White got the fentanyl-laced heroin from Haney.