Buffalo Man Rasheen Newkirk Pleads Guilty to Heroin and Gun Charges

Rasheen Newkirk, 42, of Buffalo, NY, stood silently in federal court Wednesday as he admitted to dealing heroin and packing heat — a loaded Glock pistol — despite being a convicted felon with a long rap sheet. The guilty plea, entered moments before jury selection was set to begin, marks the latest fall from grace for a man already deeply entrenched in the city’s violent drug underworld.

Newkirk pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to distribute and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. The charges, brought by Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara will hand down the sentence on May 15, 2017, at 12:30 p.m. in Buffalo federal court.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wei Xiang and Patricia Astorga, the case broke open on December 11, 2013, when Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Newkirk during a targeted raid. A search of his Buffalo home uncovered a stash of heroin, 205 glassine envelopes — commonly used for packaging street-level narcotics — and the fully loaded Glock handgun, all tucked inside the walls of a life built on crime.

The firearm charge is especially damning: Newkirk previously served 112 months in federal prison for a firearms conviction, making his possession of any gun or ammunition not just illegal, but a direct violation of federal law. As a convicted felon, he was barred from owning any weapon — a rule he ignored at the peril of the public and his own freedom.

The investigation that brought Newkirk down spanned state lines and involved the DEA’s Resident Offices in Buffalo, Toledo, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois, operating under Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt of the New York Field Division. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, led by Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol provided critical support in building the case.

With the guilty plea, prosecutors avoided a trial that promised to expose deeper layers of drug distribution networks in Western New York. Newkirk’s silence in court spoke volumes — no jury needed to see the evidence. The feds already have him on record, and on May 15, they’ll make sure he pays the price.