A West Henrietta man accused of ferrying kilogram quantities of cocaine between Philadelphia and Rochester is being held in federal custody after a multi-agency task force unsealed charges against him and two other Rochester-area men this week. Leonardo Gaskin, 36, Rodney Stanley, 58, of Greece, and Shanimba Nelson, 52, of Irondequoit were named in federal criminal complaints describing an interstate trafficking operation that stretched from Philadelphia and the New York Tri-State area into distribution hubs in Rochester and Albany.
According to the Department of Justice, Gaskin is charged with possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, while Stanley and Nelson face drug possession counts along with charges of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The complaints allege the ring relied on quick-turnaround courier trips to keep product moving, including one trip Gaskin made to Philadelphia on October 8 and 9, days before the arrests were announced.
Under federal law, the combination of drug trafficking and firearm charges filed against the three defendants carries penalties ranging from a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison up to life imprisonment, per the same federal filings. At initial detention hearings held Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark W. Pedersen ordered Gaskin held in federal custody while Nelson and Stanley were granted conditional release pending trial.
A Task Force Built on Local and Federal Muscle
The investigation was carried out under the Homeland Security Task Force framework, combining the DEA New York Field Division and the FBI with local partners including the Rochester Police Department, the Greece Police Department, and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Justice Department’s announcement notes. That blend of federal reach and local policing has become a recurring feature of how agents say they are targeting the corridors feeding cocaine into Rochester and the surrounding suburbs…