What you should know
A former New York City police officer was arrested last week and charged with selling fentanyl and heroin. Grace Rosa Baez, 37, of the Bronx, had worked with the NYPD since 2012, reported in a statement on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Baez resigned, a police spokesman said Sunday.
A former New York City police officer was arrested last week and charged with selling fentanyl and heroin. Additionally, she was accused by federal prosecutors of negotiating drug deals at work.
Grace Rosa Baez, 37, of the Bronx, who had worked with the NYPD since 2012, was arrested Thursday and charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl and three counts of narcotics distribution, reported in a statement on Friday the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Báez resigned, a police spokesman said Sunday.
Cesar Martinez, 43, of Yonkers, who shared an apartment with Baez, faces identical charges, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors alleged that from Oct. 9 through Thursday, Baez and Martinez had multiple conversations with a confidential source who was working with authorities to obtain drugs for the source at negotiated prices, prosecutors said.
“Báez and Martínez offered to sell…kilograms of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine,” prosecutors said.
For example, prosecutors noted that on Oct. 11, Baez told the confidential source that he could sell 2 kilograms of fentanyl for $30,000 per kilogram, along with an additional 400 grams of heroin, the price of which would be negotiated later, prosecutors said.
On Monday, prosecutors added, Baez met with the confidential source in Yonkers and handed him a plastic candy container, saying there was fentanyl inside. The substance was analyzed and determined to be heroin, prosecutors added.
After Baez’s arrest Thursday, law enforcement officers at the apartment she shared with Martinez found “a suspicious package of narcotics being thrown from inside the apartment to the outside,” prosecutors said. “Inside the apartment, authorities found a kilogram pressing machine, as well as other suspected narcotics that Martínez had apparently tried to throw outside.”
Baez negotiated drug deals while on duty, prosecutors said.
One case was on Oct. 11, when he spoke with the confidential source about where to meet to discuss drug sales, authorities said. On Oct. 13, he negotiated the price and quality of fentanyl and agreed to deliver a sample of fentanyl to the confidential source, and on Wednesday he discussed a final delivery with the source, authorities said.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the statement: “Grace Rosa Báez was sworn to protect and serve the people of New York City. As alleged, she flagrantly violated that oath by selling poison, including fentanyl and heroin, which are driving the country’s deadly opioid crisis and have been responsible for thousands of tragic deaths in the city and across the country.”
Following allegations of misconduct in 2020, the NYPD began investigating Baez, who was placed on modified duty, prosecutors said. This month, before she resigned, she was assigned a modified desk assignment, prosecutors said.
To read the NBC News story click here.
2023-10-23 17:13:48
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