Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 37 year-old Daniel Ellis of 1046 Davis Road in the Town of Aurora pleaded guilty to four counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 3^rd Degree before County Court Judge Michael L. D’Amico.  These were the highest charges for which the defendant could have been convicted had he gone to trial. In other words, Ellis was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

In late 2014, the New York State Police, in conjunction with Homeland Security, conducted an investigation into sales of methamphetamine throughout Western New York. Ellis, a special education teacher at Holland Central Junior-Senior High School, was one of the targets of that investigation.  During the months of November and December, Ellis sold methamphetamine to an undercover officer on four separate occasions – three of which occurred inside of the duplex he splits with his parents.  There was no proof to substantiate a claim that he sold methamphetamine to students or on school grounds.

Ellis faces up to 36 years behind bars and is scheduled to be sentenced before County Court Judge Michael L. D’Amico on June 17, 2015 at 9:30AM. 

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney John P. Gerken, Jr., who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Tactical Prosecution Unit.