A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Joseph Fontanez Walker, 35, of Jamestown, N.Y., with narcotics conspiracy, which carries a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a 10,000,000 fine.

According to the indictment, between 2019 and January 2022, Fontanez Walker allegedly conspired with others to sell fentanyl and heroin in the Jamestown area.

Fontanez Walker was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and is being held pending a detention hearing on June 8, 2026.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua A. Violanti. The indictment is the result of an investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Farhana Islam, and the Jamestown Police Department, under the direction of Chief Scott Forster.

The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Buffalo comprises agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, Department of Homeland Security Emergency Removal Operations, Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Diplomatic Security Service, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.