James Hamilton’s Facebook photo shows him posed behind his
Porsche Cayenne wearing sunglasses and a “Party All Day” T-shirt.
But the Buffalo police officer wasn’t celebrating Thursday
after his arraignment on charges of operating a marijuana-growing operation in
the basement of his Floss Avenue home on the East Side.
A six-month investigation led by the Police Department also
resulted in Hamilton’s immediate dismissal from the force on which he served
for less than a year.
“Like any organization, you have bad apples,” Police
Commissioner Daniel Derenda said Thursday.
A rookie cop who was recently named Officer of the Month by
his union, Hamilton faces multiple drug and weapons charges in connection with
the marijuana-growing operation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch said 82 marijuana
plants and 4 pounds of loose marijuana were found in the basement of the home.
Police also recovered a 12-gauge shotgun.
Hamilton, 29, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge H.
Kenneth Schroeder, who entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
“My client is innocent,” defense lawyer Matthew Borowski
said. “And he intends to fight these charges.”
Prosecutors said Hamilton’s arrest came on the heels of his
sale Wednesday afternoon of two quarter-pound quantities of marijuana for
$1,100 to a confidential source in the city’s Broadway-Bailey section.
Hamilton, who was under surveillance, was then called to
Police Headquarters, where he was arrested. Later in the evening, police with a
search warrant went to the home and found the pot-growing operation.
Derenda said the investigation started in May and was led by
his Internal Affairs and Narcotics bureaus. He said the investigation, which
included the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Erie County
Sheriff’s Office, was welcomed by rank-and-file officers in his department.
