Lockport residents charged in connection to deadly drug sales | Local News

BUFFALO — Three Lockport residents have been arrested and charged by federal agents with selling heroin and fentanyl that led to the death of one person and serious injury to another.

The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, James P. Kennedy, Jr., announced Wednesday that Bruno J. Haney, II, 29, Marissa L. DeCarlo, 26, and James O. White, 27, all 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.

In the complaint, federal prosecutors charge that in the early morning hours of March 25, 2017, officers from the Medina Police Department found a person, identified as “W.S.,” unresponsive and in cardiac arrest. That person later died.

Officers recovered three small, clear, zip lock baggies containing a powder residue and a hypodermic needle in W.S.’s pants pockets. A subsequent analysis of the residue determined the substance contained heroin and fentanyl.

A coroner ruled that the cause of W.S.’s death was the combined effects of fentanyl and alcohol.

Investigators were able to retrieve text messages from W.S.’s cell phone that showed that on the night before his death, March 24, 2017, W.S. ordered a half of a “bun,” which is street slang for half of a bundle of heroin. The heroin was ordered from a contact identified on the cell phone as “James.” 

Agents later determined that “James” was James White.

In June 2017, after W.S.’s death, federal drug agents conducted two controlled buys of half a bundle of heroin from White. During each of those purchases, White left his Caledonia Street residence in Lockport and went to Haney’s Prospect Street residence.

Federal agents also conducted three controlled purchases, in April and June 2017, from Haney at his Prospect Street residence that he shared with DeCarlo.

On June 16, 2017, members of the Niagara County Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration executed a search warrant at Haney and DeCarlo’s residence. Officers recovered a quantity of butyryl fentanyl, $515 in cash and drug packaging paraphernalia.

A year later, law enforcement officers made three additional controlled buys of heroin and fentanyl from Haney.

On October 9, 2018, Lockport police responded to a report of an overdose in the city. Officers located a person identified as “J.B.,” who was unresponsive and had shallow breathing.

The officers administered two doses of Narcan and J.B. began making attempts to breathe. J.B. was transported by ambulance to a hospital where he received further medical treatment.

J.B. later told officers that she overdosed on what she thought, and was told, was heroin, which she had purchased from Haney. The victim said DeCarlo was present during that purchase.

On Jan. 14, Haney was indicted by a Niagara County grand jury on three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and three counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

He was arrested four days later and during a search of a residence on East Avenue, officers recovered a quantity of a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, a quantity of fentanyl, a quantity of marijuana, $978 in cash and drug packaging paraphernalia.

While he was in custody in the Niagara County Jail, Haney made several phone calls to DeCarlo directing her to collect money owed to him for drug transactions. The two also discussed Haney’s source of supply and how to proceed with their narcotics activity.

On Jan. 24, the Niagara County Drug Task Force received an online complaint that Haney was out on bail and was again selling narcotics at his residence on East Avenue.

White was arrested on Jan. 22, by the Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force and charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of W.S.

While incarcerated at the Orleans County Jail, White made a phone call to an unknown individual, during which he said, “They are trying to say that back in 2017 I caught a body.” White also said that he got “him” (W.S.) half a bundle from Bruno.”