20 Charged as U.S. Says Heroin Ring Is Broken Up

 

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By IVAN PEREIRA
Published: March 13, 2012

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — They were accused of flooding the streets with millions of dollars’ worth of heroin, operating a major distribution ring that extended from Brooklyn to Suffolk County.

But many of the participants hardly fit the image of prototypical drug dealers: among the 20 people charged in the federal indictment with dealing heroin were a retired police officer, a college student and a hostess at a restaurant that her family once owned. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday.

Federal law enforcement officials said that the ring, which they said sold nearly 20 kilograms of heroin with a street value of $2.75 million in the past nine months, was led by Jose Perez, 26. Mr. Perez, whose address was not released on Tuesday, was accused of smuggling the drugs from as far away as the Dominican Republic to stash houses in Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau County, and controlling a sophisticated distribution system among the other defendants. The operation’s headquarters was in Woodhaven, Queens, they said.

The restaurant hostess, Dana Sollecito, was accused of dealing heroin in the parking lot of the Corner Galley family restaurant in Massapequa, N.Y.; her father, who died 12 years ago, once owned the restaurant.

Ms. Sollecito’s colleagues were shocked to hear of her arrest. Gerry Stanbrough, a part owner of the restaurant, on Merrick Road, said that Ms. Sollecito had been working there as a part-time hostess for the past few months.

Mr. Stanbrough said he was not aware of his employee’s arrest or the drug deals alleged to have taken place on his business’s property until he was informed by reporters. He described Ms. Sollecito, 23, of Massapequa, as a hard worker who always offered extra help if the restaurant needed it, as when Christmas decorations had to be put up.

“I can’t imagine her doing anything like this,” Mr. Stanbrough said.

Ms. Sollecito was not the only person allegedly leading a double life, the United States attorney for the Eastern District, Loretta E. Lynch, said at a news conference. Others charged with dealing heroin in the indictment included a Hofstra University student, Kathryn Pappas, 21, of Jericho, N.Y.; a retired Suffolk County police officer, Roland Stern, 68, of Patchogue, N.Y.; and his daughter Corey Stern, 37. Mr. Stern was intercepted on wiretaps 300 times, prosecutors said.

During the course of the inquiry, investigators said they made numerous controlled purchases of heroin from the ring that totaled more than 5,400 individual doses of heroin,

Addiction is what led many of the accused to join the operation, said the chief of department for the Nassau County police, Steven Skrynecki.

“The more people are using, the more people are selling,” he said. “And you see a network, as you see here.”

Chief Skrynecki said rises in heroin use and overdoses on Long Island had led to the joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Nassau County Police Department.

A version of this article appeared in print on March 14, 2012, on page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: 20 Charged As U.S. Says Heroin Ring Is Broken Up.
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