“OPERATION Rx” SNARES 29 PEOPLE IN SWEEPING CRACKDOWN OF ILLEGAL PAINKILLER SALES

Arrests Culminate Year-Long Probe Of Prescription Drug Dealing By Affluent Rockland County Teens and Twentysomethings

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe today announced the results of a year-long, undercover narcotics operation that culminated with the indictments and arrests of 29 individuals for the illegal sale and distribution of prescription drugs and other illicit substances. The defendants range in age from 16 to 34 years-of-age and are responsible for feeding pills to middle-class teenagers throughout Rockland County.

The sweeping probe was sparked late in 2008 by confidential informants who contacted police departments in Clarkstown, Orangetown, Ramapo and Suffern. During the next several months, undercover detectives from the Rockland County Narcotics Task Force developed information and made more than 65 “buys” at various locations throughout Rockland County, including neighborhood strip malls, town parks and on the grounds of Congers Elementary School.

Many of the drug dealers swept-up in the investigation do not have criminal histories and are local students. District Attorney Zugibe stated, “Young people who peddle drugs in our community are nothing more than merchants of addiction, despair and sometimes, death. Teenagers must learn there’s no future in narcotics trafficking, only a criminal record.”

The 29 defendants face a variety of charges including Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class "B" Felony. With the new drug laws, these crimes are punishable from diversion programs to probation to up to nine years in state prison.

The defendants raided their parents' medicine cabinets for drugs or used forged prescriptions to obtain dozens of pills. The undercover detectives purchased a variety of medications, including OxyContin, Adderall, Valium, Roxicet, Morphine, Subutex, Vicodin, Percocet, Klonopin, and Xanax. Dealers also peddled small amounts of non-prescription drugs such as Ecstasy, heroin, crack cocaine, powder cocaine and LSD.

Prescription drug abuse is a growing concern in Rockland County. While some of these young dealers stole from household medicine cabinets, others engaged in "doctor shopping" or worked to bypass health insurance company recordkeeping by paying pharmacies in cash.

Zugibe said, “The prescription drug trade is more informal than most cocaine or heroin operations, which are largely distributed by organized gangs. A teenager might grab a few pills from mom’s nightstand or sell a bottle of leftover Morphine that was prescribed by a dentist.”

Drug dealers plied their trade using the latest technology. Text messaging served as the primary means of trade between the sellers and their clients.

Over $6000 has been spent on purchasing the prescription and non-prescription drugs from the young dealers. The undercover officers made “buys” ranging from a $5 Xanax pill to one pill of OxyContin for the sum of $80.

Following today’s arraignments, counselors from the Rockland County Department of Mental Health and local chemical dependency treatment agencies offered support for each of the defendants and their families.

The Rockland District Attorney’s Office and local police agencies are developing a public awareness campaign focusing on prescription drug dealing by young people. Law enforcement officials encourage all residents to become involved in the solution by voluntarily turning in unused, unwanted and expired medications. The pills will be destroyed.

#####