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Massena man swept up in big December drug bust sentenced to two years

Posted 7/28/16

MASSENA -- A Massena man will serve two years for his conviction in a drug case that led to arrests of seven people in the North Country and 25 in New York City. William Rochefort, 21, will serve 24 …

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Massena man swept up in big December drug bust sentenced to two years

Posted

MASSENA -- A Massena man will serve two years for his conviction in a drug case that led to arrests of seven people in the North Country and 25 in New York City.

William Rochefort, 21, will serve 24 months in federal prison with three years post-release supervision, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian.

On Feb. 25, Rochefort admitted distributing crack cocaine and heroin that had been brought to Massena from New York City, Hartunian said.

Rochefort was one of seven defendants arrested in December as part of a case authorities had dubbed “Operation Believe It or Not,” Massena Police Chief Adam Love said Dec. 9.

At the time he didn’t elaborate on the name’s significance, but said the case was gang-related.

When Rochefort was arrested, 25 other people tied to the case were arrested in New York City, according to Love.

This case is the result of a year-long investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) in Massena. The group consists of law enforcement officers from the Massena Police Department, the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and the New York State Police, and which receives assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the district attorneys of Clinton, Franklin, and St. Lawrence counties, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department, the Oneida Indian Nation Police, U. S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Potsdam Police Department, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Sûrete du Quebec, and the New York Attorney General’s Office. Assistant U.S. attorneys Katherine Kopita and Douglas Collyer prosecuted the case, Hartunain said.