‘It’s a shame’: Locals react to cocaine bust at popular Fairport canal path restaurant
FAIRPORT, N.Y. — We shared some surprising news with people walking on the canal path in Fairport on Wednesday. They were walking past the site of a cocaine bust, a story News10NBC broke Tuesday night at 11.
Court records say two men were charged for selling bags of cocaine to undercover police in the county’s narcotics task force. The court papers say the sales happened inside the restaurant called Cluck If You Buck.
Richard T. Barley is accused of selling plastic bags of cocaine inside the store for $100, $200, and $300. Taretonye J. Korokeyi is charged with selling one bag of cocaine for $80.
News10NBC Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean went to Korokeyi’s townhouse in Fairport, but no one came to the door despite someone clearly living in the unit.
News10NBC caught up with Fairport Police Chief Matthew Barnes just after the arrests Tuesday night.
“No one outstanding. Everyone we were interested in was taken into custody tonight,” Chief Barnes said.
Beverly Wagner has walked this part of the canal for 35 years.
Wagner says it’s not unusual to see police, fire and RG&E drive on the path.
“I’m glad the police have got them out of here because this is supposed to be a very safe place to walk,” Wagner said.
Ginny Keegan, another canal path walker, said, “I think it’s a shame. We have a lot of families that walk the canal and ride their bicycles and we just took a lovely walk down the canal. It’s a shame to see that behavior in our special area.”
State prison records show Barley served two stints, one for possessing drugs and the other for possessing a gun. State finance records show Korokeyi owed the state $51,000 in back taxes in July. The balance is down to $16,000 today.
Korokeyi was released after he was arrested. Because of his criminal history, the Perinton Town Court office says Barley is in jail with no bail. He’s in court Friday afternoon.
The arrests were part of the county’s drug team called GRANET.
A.I. assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News 10 uses A.I.