Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Utica Drug Trafficker Pleads Guilty
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Clifford Billins, 41, of Utica, New York, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute, and distributing fentanyl, crack cocaine, and heroin. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. McGrath, who is handling the case, stated that between September 2017 and August 2018, the defendant conspired with others to sell fentanyl, crack cocaine, cocaine, and heroin. Billins routinely trafficked bulk quantities of illegal narcotics, which were then redistributed to individual drug users in the Rochester and Utica areas.
The plea is the result of an investigation by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New York Field Division; the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of the District Attorney Sandra Doorley; and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief La’Ron D. Singletary.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 6, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. before Chief Judge Geraci.
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