A UB faculty member was arrested at his Hamburg home on Monday and charged with a federal drug crime, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. on Tuesday.
Torin Finver, a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, was arrested and charged with importing a controlled substance, a charge that has a maximum penalty of a $1 million fine and 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
UB fired Finver, effective 5 p.m. Thursday, UB spokesperson John DellaContrada wrote in an email.
Finver was a “faculty expert” on substance abuse, according to his biography on UB’s website.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted a package addressed to Finver’s home in Hamburg, on Nov. 21. The package contained three grams of a substance that field tested positive for cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Postal inspectors in Rochester located a package, also addressed to Finver’s home, on Dec. 10. The package contained a brown rock-like substance, which field tested positive for heroin. Two more similar packages were found on Dec.12 and Dec.15 in Rochester and Hamburg. One of the packages contained suspected cocaine and the other is in custody of law enforcement, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Law enforcement officers conducted a “controlled delivery” of a fake substance on Dec. 17 and executed a federal search warrant of Finver’s home after he took the substance into the home. Law enforcement then took Finver into custody, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Finver appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer and was released on conditions, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
This is a developing story.
The news desk can be reached at news@ubspectrum.com.
Brenton J. Blanchet is the 2019-20 editor-in-chief of The Spectrum. His work has appeared in Billboard, Clash Magazine, DJBooth, PopCrush, The Face and more. Ask him about Mariah Carey.
