TOP HEADLINES
For the third time in as many weeks, the Attorney General’s
office dismantled a large heroin ring. This most recent drug bust intercepted a
drug operation that stretched all the way from Pittsburgh to Long Island, and
involved covert physical surveillance and hundreds of hours of wiretaps that
identified this alleged multicounty and multistate heroin distribution network.
The alleged kingpin, Brian Bacon, sold up to a kilogram of heroin per month with assistance from his
son, Tamar Dillard, and his girlfriend, Donna Marie Haggans, who were integral
to the packaging and delivery of the heroin to customers and resellers, as well
as the handling of money. Bacon was also allegedly assisted by Wallace Walker –
the self-styled “quality control officer” – who distributed heroin to third
parties, who would test and then rate the quality, thereby permitting Bacon to
gauge how much he could “cut” the heroin and the price he should charge. This is
just the latest in a series of drug busts from the Attorney General’s office.
The Attorney General, along with numerous other New York official and community leaders, announced that the
Dominican Day Parade will have new leadership after longtime head Nelson Pena was ousted. For years, the organizations Peña purported to run had no
functioning boards of directors, failed to maintain proper books and records,
and failed to file the annual reports nonprofits are required to file under
State law. Dominican Day Parade, Inc., with a new board of distinguished
individuals drawn from diverse sectors of the Dominican-American community, has
applied for the City’s permit for the Dominican Day Parade. Under the
leadership of the new organization, the Parade this year is scheduled to be
held on Manhattan’s Avenue of the Americas on August 9, 2015.
Any company that collects customer data on the condition it
will not be resold must uphold their end of the bargain. Upon hearing that
Radio Shack may be selling some of its private consumer data as part of
a bankruptcy sale, the
Attorney General issued a statement saying he would continue to monitor the
situation, and that he was committed to taking action to protect New York
consumers. This potential move by Radio Shack would be in violation of their
private policy guidelines. Our office has joined with many other Attorneys
General across the nation to warn Radio Shack that we will take the necessary
measures to protect personal and private data.
The Attorney General and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton
announced three guilty pleas in a worldwide khat trafficking ring, marking the
first time in New York that khat dealers will serve time in state
prison. The khat trafficking ring flooded New York City, as well as other
parts of New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio, with several tons of khat, a plant
containing controlled substances similar to amphetamines. The indictment
alleges that England-based defendant Yadeta Bekri, known to his co-conspirators
as “Murad,” systematically shipped large quantities of khat to his U.S.-based
partners, Bayan Yusuf and Ahmed Adem, through multiple U.P.S. stores located in
Manhattan. Yusuf and Adem, both of Rochester, NY, would then allegedly deliver
the khat to their distributors and direct customers based in Brooklyn,
Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo, as well as Everett, Massachusetts. Last
summer, Attorney General Schneiderman and Commissioner Bratton announced the
indictment of 17 members of a khat trafficking ring.
The Attorney General continues to work to rid New York
politics of fraud and corruption. The
Attorney General announced, along with State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, that
former Highway Superintendent for the Town of Erin has entered a guilty plea
involving the theft of more than $65,000 in goods and services from the town.
The guilty plea follows charges brought against Roger Burlew, appointed Highway Superintendent in 1998, detailing a systematic course of
conduct wherein he stole property valued at over $65,000 from the Town of Erin.
The thefts of products and equipment were for Burlew’s personal use or the use
of a third person.
In a separate case this week, the Attorney General and State
Comptroller DiNapoli also announced the guilty plea of Thomas
Capuano, the former Commissioner of the Department of Public Works of the City of
Rensselaer Department of Public Works, for teaming with two DPW employees to
divert $46,000 from the city by pocketing the cash from scrap metals acquired
as part of their jobs with the city. According to documents filed in court,
Thomas Capuano was the Commissioner of the Rensselaer Department of Public
Works, and the supervisor of his two co-defendants, Ronald Foust and Jeffrey
Clark. Surveillance videos from a local scrap yard showed Foust and Clark
cashing in items discarded by city residents. Foust and Clark later implicated
Capuano, their supervisor, in the scheme. Both Foust and Clark have pleaded
guilty for their roles in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing.
Those who are in rehabilitation homes need to be certain
that they are being provided safe, high-quality care. That is why the Attorney
General announced the arrest of Terri Stephens-Traverse for allegedly stealing
several pills containing oxycodone from an Orange County nursing facility’s
emergency pain medication supply. Stephens-Traverse was formerly employed at
Campbell Hall Rehabilitation Center located in Campbell Hall, a hamlet in the
Town of Hamptonburgh in Orange County. On six separate occasions between
January 23, 2013 and February 2, 2013, Stephens-Traverse, while working as a supervising
nurse, allegedly
stole powerful pain medication containing the narcotic oxycodone from an
emergency supply kept on hand by the Center to fill new pain medication prescriptions
for its residents. To conceal her theft, Stephens-Traverse allegedly
falsified Center records and forged the signatures of assigned medication
nurses, to indicate that the medications were administered to residents in her
care when, in fact, she kept the pills for personal use.
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