Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty, Jr. announces the arraignment of 46-year-old Wanda Winfield of 67 Charnwood Avenue in Cheektowaga before State Supreme Court Justice Penny Wolfgang on an indictment charging her with two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree.

Winfield was the subject of an investigation by the Cheektowaga Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency.  Law enforcement officials received information that Winfield was selling opioids out of her Charnwood home.  She is also suspected of buying other people’s prescribed pills and reselling those pills to help supply her drug trade. She is currently charged with selling more than 50 opioid pills of oxymorphone on November 20^th and 24^th of 2015.  The 50 pills had a street value of almost $3,000.

During one of the sales, Winfield sold drugs to a confidential informant while she was cradling her grandchild.

“We are taking a tough stance on these cases,” says Acting DA Flaherty. “If you are in any way contributing to the opioid epidemic that is gripping our county and taking lives every day, we will find you.”

Acting DA Flaherty commends the Cheektowaga Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration for their efforts in this investigation.

Winfield, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was released on her own recognizance.  She faces a maximum prison term of up to 18 years.   

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney John P. Gerken, Jr., who is assigned to the Narcotics Unit in Acting DA Flaherty’s Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau.

Winfield, like all others accused of a crime, is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.