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Date: 02-14-2024
Case Style:
Case Number:
Judge: Elizabeth A. Wolford
Court: The United States Court for the Western District of New York
Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Court for Buffalo
Defendant's Attorney:
Description:
U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Jariel Cobb a/k/a Doobie a/k/a Black, 52, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of narcotics conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct justice, use of fire to commit a felony, and conspiracy to damage and destroy a vehicle used in interstate commerce by fire, was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Adler, Maeve E. Huggins, and Joseph M. Tripi, who handled the case, stated that beginning in 2014, Cobb, and others, began receiving and selling marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. Cobb, and his co-conspirators utilized 973 Fillmore Avenue to store, package, and sell the illegal narcotics. In furtherance of the narcotics conspiracy, on September 15, 2019, Cobb arranged a purchase of a kilogram of cocaine from Miguel Anthony Valentin-Colon and Dhamyl Roman-Audiffred, who served as Cobb’s sources of supply. Valentin-Colon, along with his wife. Nicole Marie Merced-Plaud, their minor son, and Roman-Audiffred, arrived in their vehicle, a white minivan, at a residence on Roebling Avenue, as directed by Cobb. Roman-Audiffred exited the van and entered the residence’s kitchen, at which time a co-defendant hit her in the head with a blunt object and she fell to the floor. The co-defendant then went outside and shot and killed both Valentin-Colon and Merced Plaud, in the presence of their minor son, who was seated in a child’s car seat. The co-defendant then drove the minivan and parked it on Scajaquada Street near Kilhoffer Street in Buffalo.
A short time later, Cobb and a co-defendant moved the body of Dhamyl Roman-Audiffred from the kitchen into the residence’s basement, where they dismembered her body. Cobb placed the body parts into multiple trash bags and placed them into the trunk of his vehicle, and then drove to a residence on Box Avenue, removed the trash bags, and placed them into a burning fire in a fire pit area in the backyard.
The following day, during the early morning hours of September 16, 2019, Cobb and another co-defendant retrieved the minivan from Scajaquada Street, with the bodies of Miguel Valentin-Colon and Nicole Marie Merced-Plaud still inside, as well as their minor son. Cobb and the co-defendant drove the minivan into the yard of a residence on Tonawanda Street and doused the vehicle and the bodies with gasoline, lighting the vehicle and bodies on fire. They took the minor child and left him on a stranger’s porch on Potomac Avenue in Buffalo.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia; the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia; the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff John Garcia; the Erie County Central Police Services Forensic Laboratory, under the direction of Commissioner James Jancewicz. Additional assistance was provided by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of District Attorney John Flynn.
Outcome:
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
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