Feds seek forfeiture of three local homes, including $800,000 mansion in Spaulding Lake

All three became targets of forfeiture cases recently filed by federal prosecutors in connection with drug investigations.

One is a stately mansion at 5061 Rockhaven Drive, purchased last year for $800,000, in the upscale Spaulding Lake development in Clarence.

Another is a home near the shores of the Niagara River in Lewiston. Homeland Security investigators allege that the home at 4240 Wolf Run Drive was used as a landing and takeoff spot for drones carrying illegal drugs from Canada.

The third is 7122 Larry Drive, the Wheatfield residence of a nurse practitioner who was arrested in October on charges that he illegally sold opioids to some of his patients.

In all three cases, federal agents and the U.S. Attorney’s Office allege in court papers that the property was in some way linked to drug trafficking. Government attorneys are seeking to take the homes away from the owners, sell the properties and use the proceeds to help crime victims or police agencies.

“In a forfeiture case, the government has to establish that the property was used for storage or sale of drugs, or that it was purchased with proceeds from drug trafficking,” said Joseph M. LaTona, a Buffalo defense lawyer since 1975.

Becoming a target of a forfeiture action can be “very stressful” for anyone, said LaTona, who has battled with the government over forfeitures in the past but is not involved in any of the three recent cases.

“Basically, the government is telling you, ‘Not only do we want to put you in prison, but we want to take your home away from you and your family,’ ” LaTona told The Buffalo News.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo used criminal and civil forfeiture actions to obtain more than $36 million in 2022. Most of the forfeiture actions were connected to investigations into fraud, drug-trafficking and other crimes, the office…