Volunteer youth coach is charged by feds with distribution of cocaine

by Dan Herbeck
Buffalo News

An East Amherst man who was identified by police as a youth league volunteer football coach was arrested by federal agents Monday on felony cocaine-distribution charges.

U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents said Eric J. Humphrey, 31, of Moorgate Court, is suspected of being one of the leaders of a major cocaine-trafficking ring.

Investigators who arrested Humphrey at his home Monday afternoon said they found a duffel bag there that appeared to contain about $100,000 in cash.

A pound of powdered cocaine, 4.5 ounces of crack cocaine and 21 kilogram-size cocaine wrappers also were recovered from a “stash house” allegedly operated by Humphrey on Goodyear Avenue on Buffalo's East Side, said Charles H. Tomaszewski, agent in charge of the DEA's Buffalo office.

During a recent investigation, agents learned that Humphrey coached a youth football team in the Buffalo area and that he operated the Good Life Sports Bar & Grill at 3067 Bailey Ave., north of Kensington Avenue, Tomaszewski said.

Agents raided the bar Monday, and it is likely to be subject to federal forfeiture proceedings, Assistant U. S. Attorney Thomas S. Duszkiewicz said.

“The bar has been very extensively renovated over the past couple of years,” Tomaszewski said.

Authorities did not release the name of the youth team or league where Humphrey is said to have volunteered.

In addition to the DEA and federal prosecutors, the Erie County district attorney's office, Buffalo police, Amherst police and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force assisted in the investigation, authorities said.

Federal agents said men they identified as relatives of Eric Humphrey— John E. Humphrey, 39, and Charles M. Humphrey Jr. 41, both of Buffalo— also were arrested on felony drug-conspiracy charges.

During Monday's arrests, police seized a GMC Sierra Denali pickup truck from Eric Humphrey's home and a Mercedes-Benz sedan from Charles Humphrey's residence on Pine Street, Duszkiewicz said. John Humphrey's address was given as Phyllis Avenue.

Names of other defendants are expected to be released at a news conference today.