Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III announces that 24 year-old Rickita Minor of 272 Vermont St. in the City Buffalo pleaded guilty as charged to three counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree before New York State Supreme Court Justice Christopher  Burns. These are the highest charges for which the defendant could have been convicted had she gone to trial. In other words, the Minor did not receive a so-called “plea bargain” and was instead prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Minor sold heroin to an undercover Cheektowaga police officer on three separate occasions in February of this year. This investigation was prompted by a tip that that Minor -- who was enrolled in the Town of Cheektowaga’s Drug Treatment Court at the time -- was soliciting other drug court participants to purchase heroin from her. While wooing one customer, who in reality was undercover officer, Minor boasted that she had a network of suppliers from whom she could acquire heroin upon one hour’s notice. As one veteran courthouse observer noted, instead of embracing drug court as an opportunity to turn her life around, Minor preyed upon those struggling to overcome their addictions. 

Minor faces a maximum of up to 27 years in state prison when she is sentenced on January 13, 2015 before Justice Burns.

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Justin T. Wallens, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Felony Trial Bureau.