Buffalo police officer charged with manufacturing drugs A
Buffalo police officer was arrested and charged, along with another man, with
conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.
Jorge Melendez, 41, a
police officer in Buffalo’s “D” district, and Jason Elardo, 42, stand charged
with manufacturing more than 100 marijuana plants in a warehouse Melendez owns
at 2157 South Park Ave. in Buffalo.
During the course of an
investigation of the defendant’s, law enforcement used hidden surveillance
equipment inside the warehouse to observe both men tending to the plants
according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Marangola, who is handling the
case.
According to the complaint,
further outdoor surveillance led officers to observe Melendez pulling up in a
Buffalo Police patrol car and entering and exiting the building while he was on
duty.
“Police officers are sworn
to protect the public and uphold the law,” said U.S. Attorney William Hochul,
in announcing the arrest. “It is particularly disturbing when an officer breaks
the law he has sworn to uphold. This defendant chose to not only commit a
crime, he did so, at times, in uniform and when he was supposed to be
patrolling the streets of the city, protecting its citizens.”
The criminal complaint is
the culmination of an investigation on the part of investigators of the New
York State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, special agents of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
Buffalo Police Department.
The charges carry a
mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum of 40 years, a
fine of $4 million, or both.