October 11, 2018
From The U.S. Attorney’s Office:
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Donald McKinney, 53, of Dansville, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, was sentenced to serve 120 months in prison by U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn Hartford, who handled the case, stated that between January 2017 and April 25, 2017, the defendant conspired with others to ship high purity crystal methamphetamine from suppliers in California into Dansville, NY, where it was then distributed. McKinney regularly communicated with co-conspirators, Thomas Williams and Julie Cota, in California, and arranged for them to ship quantities of crystal methamphetamine to him in Dansville, via parcel service. The defendant paid Williams and Cota $1,000 per ounce and then sold the crystal methamphetamine to another co-conspirator, Kurt Redance, for $1,400 an ounce. In turn, Redance distributed the crystal methamphetamine to others, including sales at The Boneyard, an auto salvage business in Dansville.
McKinney is one of seven defendants charged in this methamphetamine conspiracy. All seven have been convicted.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division; the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Thomas Dougherty; and the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Eric Laughton.
