Syracuse man sentenced on federal drug trafficking charges

SYRACUSE, N.Y. » Michael Starkey, 29, of Syracuse, was sentenced to serve 61 months in prison for his convictions on multiple charges relating to his participation in cocaine and crack cocaine distribution conspiracies.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Field Division, Thomas F. Relford, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York State Police Superintendent Keith Corlett, Sheriff Eugene Conway, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, and William J. Fitzpatrick, Onondaga County District Attorney.

The defendant was also ordered to serve a period of four years supervised release following his term of incarceration, and to forfeit to the government $10,000 in proceeds from his drug trafficking activity.

Pursuant to his plea agreement in this case, Starkey admitted that during the summer of 2018, he repeatedly acquired multiple ounces of cocaine from one of his co-conspirators, which Starkey then redistributed to others in the form of cocaine and crack cocaine.

This case was investigated by the Drug En

forcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the

New York State Police, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Commandeur.