VIDEO and STORY: Largest drug bust in Allegany County history worth $4 million

At the end of the photo gallery you can watch the Wellsville Sun’s exclusive video of the press conference

Driving along Farnsworth Road in Cuba, NY to the old cookie factory is one of the most picturesque views in Allegany County. A hilly road, streams and views aplenty.

On Thursday of this week, that view was put to rest when police and other law enforcement agencies seized $4 million worth of drugs at the former factory while making arrests.

Cuba Police Chief Dustin Burch said, “The street value is $3.5 million to $4 million, and that’s a conservative number,” adding that it was the largest bust he had ever seen in Allegany County has.

Police arrested two people: Daniel S. Ackerman, 58, of Cuba, and Ana Laura Maldonado-Delgado, 31, last known address in Cuba.

Both were charged with two counts of first-degree criminal possession of cannabis, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon (one of the weapons charges against Ackerman was a felony) and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Ackerman was also charged with resisting arrest. Ackerman was arraigned in Allegany County CAP Court and released with tickets. Police said Maldonado-Delgado was an undocumented immigrant and was turned over to Border Patrol agents.

During a press conference attended by Chief Burch, county police officers, city officials, the county prosecutor’s office and Officer Dylan Burch, police discussed the extent of the raid, why marijuana was a problem, other drugs and bail issues.

When Cuban police were alerted to the possible existence of an illegal drug operation in which employees were being paid undercover, an investigation was launched.

“About a year ago, based on the activity and complaints that were coming in, the city government was kind enough to actually support us in starting our own drug democracy,” Chief Burch said. “They gave us funding that really helped. Last year in Cuba there were 24 arrests for drug sales-related crimes and we executed three arrest warrants. I can’t thank Cuba City Manager Lee James and the board enough for trusting this process.”

The former cookie factory at 8670 Farnsworth Road was searched by police at 7 a.m. Thursday. Police said they seized 600 marijuana plants weighing 1,000 pounds, 100 pounds of dried marijuana flowers, psilocybin mushrooms, lab equipment and an illegal handgun. Cuban police were assisted by the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the DEA, the Border Patrol and a K-9 unit from the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office.

The story continues after the video:

“This site was an old factory, it was quite large, we had a lot of agencies involved. “The operation was quite an undertaking,” Chief Burch said.

There was some frustration with the prosecution process under New York State law.

“We have been working on this case for 12 months. I don’t like playing politics, but there’s a lot of manpower involved here, a lot of overtime and now there’s a lot of frustration,” said Chief Burch. “This is a charge of resisting arrest. 50 percent or more of people resist us when we make arrests. If we do all this work, we might get hurt, and since there’s bail reform, they’re getting out. We were here from 3am until late at night. We were exposed to the conditions in those buildings, the resisted (incident) and then (the suspect) was released.”

Allegany County District Attorney Ian Jones said, “It’s important to note that there are a lot of charges here, and high charges, but not high enough to qualify under our new bail laws.” It must be an A1 crime involving a major drug trafficker and that is very difficult to prove. You must prove that the drugs will be transported and the money will be deposited and withdrawn for 12 years. I think this highlights another failure of our bail reform. Here we have arguably the largest drug bust in the history of this county, but it is still not enough to meet our new bail requirements, which is why, unfortunately, no bail provisions have been established.”

City Manager Lee James said the factory was once a family business and was called the Farnsworth Cookie Company. This was sold to the Stauffer Biscuit Company, which closed the factory in 2017. The family then sold the building to Ackerman. It has been closed for five years.

The police showed photos of the factory and took mugshots of those arrested.

“Another thing we discovered while investigating the factory was how the device was used to consume the canibus and some gumdrops,” said Chief Burch. “It’s important because it’s exactly what’s being pushed into our school systems and a lot of younger kids are getting their hands on it.”

Allegany County Undersheriff Walt Mackney, who led the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force for years, said this is the largest bust in the county’s history and one of the first three in Southern Tier history. He said there were dogs running around the facility and he was concerned there was feces in the marijuana.

Chuef Burch added: “These were not legitimate workers, they had no license to operate and the whole thing was completely unsanitary and in a deplorable condition.” They were in the process of setting up a laboratory to produce their own synthetic cannabis or cannabis oil. In this case, many agencies came together and we all worked well together, and of course we kept the prosecutor informed of everything and the prosecutor’s response was also helpful.”

While police worked the case for over a year, Chief Burch said, “Public safety is always a concern, but we did not consider this to be a threat.”

Allegany County Sheriff Scott Cicirello praised the Cuban Police Department for its drug task force and cooperation with other agencies. But he also said that the drug problem still exists.

“We have a serious drug problem in this county and I think everyone knows it,” Cicirello said. “While we struggle to find a way to address and manage these issues, this was a prime example of a local police department doing a fantastic job finding the resources and support they needed to conduct a comprehensive investigation like this to carry out this in the event of an arrest and seizure of drug paraphernalia.

Burch said the sheriff’s drone team is also an asset and praised the partnership with the county.