A North Tonawanda man currently on trial in connection with a 2019 home invasion homicide in which a mother was killed in the presence of her children was indicted this week on a charge of selling fentanyl that caused the deaths of three people.
Ernest Green, 41, was arraigned Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer on charges of distribution of fentanyl causing death, and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life.
Green is the fifth local defendant to face such charges in the past six months, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The indictment accuses Green of conspiring with others to sell fentanyl and cocaine between 2019 and May 27, 2022, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler, who is handling the case. The indictment also alleges that on May 27, 2020, Green sold fentanyl that resulted in the deaths of three people identified only by their initials.
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U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross said "deadly poisons" that include fentanyl, cocaine and heroin are finding their way into local communities because of defendants like Green.
"Our office is working every day with our law enforcement partners at all levels to track down these defendants, whose actions show no regard for human lives," Ross said in a news release Tuesday.
In 2020, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed charges against Green in an alleged 2009 murder-for-profit scheme in which Green spent more than six years in jail following his arrest. He and co-defendant Rodshaun Black were accused of kidnapping Jabril Harper because of Harper's reputation as a drug dealer and the expectation that he was rolling in cash and cocaine, and shooting Harper twice in the head and leaving for dead in Buffalo's Roosevelt Park.
After a nearly three-month trial in Buffalo federal court, a jury failed to reach a verdict against the two men, and after eight days of deliberations, also found Green and Black not guilty of kidnapping and robbing another alleged drug dealer. In all, they were found not guilty of about half the charges against them in a nine-count indictment, while the jury couldn't decide on the rest.
Green is currently serving a 10-year federal sentence after his third felony conviction in 2020 for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to prosecutors, Green was seen on video on July 26, 2020, running east from the Towne Gardens housing development shortly after a shooting in which a vehicle crashed into a tree. Police retrieved the firearm five blocks east of where the shooting had taken place.
Green was previously convicted on felony charges in 2004 and 2010. As a result of the prior two convictions, Green is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
In the Town of Tonawanda case, Green and another man, Daniel Rodriguez, both of North Tonawanda, are accused of entering the home of Danielle Cretacci and killing her and wounding her two daughters in the course of attempting to commit a robbery. Both men were charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder.
