Rocco A. Beardsley

A Jamestown man no stranger to the criminal justic system has again been jailed, this time on a federal narcotics conspiracy charge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced an indictment against 34-year-old Rocco A. Beardsley, stemming from a monthslong investigation into the illegal trafficking of drugs in the Jamestown area. Though the lone charge was made public Wednesday, the indictment came March 18, about a week before Beardsley and 27-year-old Kylie M. Reeves were picked up by members of the Jamestown Police Department in a traffic stop near Locust Street.

At the time of his latest arrest, Beardsley was on parole following a conviction on drug charges in 2017. While out, an investigation began involving the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force, Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr., between December 2018 and April 2020, Beardsley allegedly conspired with others to possess and distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine as well as acetyl fentanyl, crack cocaine and fentanyl.

In the March 24 traffic stop, Jamestown police reported Beardsley attempted to get away and threw a “bag containing a large amount of narcotics underneath the vehicle in which investigators observed.” He was taken into custody and transported to Jamestown City Jail.

At about 12:30 p.m. the following day, police executed a search warrant on 20 W. Cowden Place, where Reeves was reportedly found with “a quantity of methamphetamine, large amounts of drug paraphernalia and cash.” Also inside the residence were three children, all under the age of 5. The children were turned over to a family member, the Jamestown Police Department said in its news release.

Beardsley’s vehicle was searched after investigators obtained a search warrant. Inside, police reported finding 2.61 ounces of fentanyl, 2.275 ounces of crystal methamphetamine, 1.24 ounces of cocaine and 11 hydrocodone pills with a total street value of about $20,000.

Capt. Robert Samuelson of the Jamestown Police Department at the time said the narcotics, had they not been seized, would have likely been sold “within days on the streets.”

Kennedy noted that Beardsley was previously convicted in U.S. federal court in 2007 on charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. In June 2019, the Fourth Department Appellate Division upheld three of his guilty pleas after he appealed a 2017 case in which he pleaded guilty to charges of third-degree attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine. The court ruled that all three judgements were affirmed.

The city man was sentenced in January 2017 to four years in state prison and two years post-release supervision. He was released on parole on Oct. 22, 2019.

Prior to that, Beardsley had been booked into the Chautauqua County Jail 13 times over 12 years, including an incident in which he allegedly robbed and assaulted a person in a Broadhead Avenue home; a September 2015 raid at the same Broadhead Avenue home during which police found powder cocaine and crystal methamphetamine; and a March 2015 arrest on West Fifth Street for possessing narcotics and manufacturing methamphetamine.

Beardsley was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer in Buffalo and is being detained. If convicted on the federal charge, he faces a prison sentence of at least 10 years and a $10 million fine.