Twenty men and women who allegedly had hands in a nearly $3 million East End heroin dealing ring with New York City ties have been rounded up, Suffolk County prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The suspects, most from Long Island and three from Queens, pleaded not guilty heroin trafficking conspiracy allegations this week, most of them at Suffolk County court in Riverhead.
Investigators with the East End Drug Task Force executed eight search warrants in Mattituck, Coram, Greenport, Flanders, Calverton, Riverhead, and Ridgewood, Queens, seizing 4,430 bags of heroin packaged for sale, 5.6 ounces of cocaine, drug paraphernalia and approximately $173,000 cash. The raids were the culmination of a nine-month investigation.
“There’s no better illustration of the profits to be had peddling heroin than the amount of cash Task Force detectives found scattered throughout 15 Albright Drive in Coram,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
That is the home of 34-year-old Shawn Badgett, where detectives found $19,310 cash on a bedroom floor, nearly $16,000 under a nearby nightstand, $19,800 in tucked in some clothes, more than $3,000 on a desk and $3,800 under the attic insulation, Spota said. Detectives found an additional $90,000 cash traced to Badgett’s safe deposit box, he added.
Forty decks, or wax paper bags of heroin, divided into four rubber-banded bundles of ten doses each, were also recovered from Badgett’s house. Rondalynn Williams, 32, who lives with Badgett, was also charged. Some of the brand names of the seized heroin include Google, President Privilege, Hell on Earth, True Religion and Quiksand.
Prosecutors said the Coram men purchased their heroin from Juan Pabon, 41, of Ridgewood, who is currently on parole for attempted sale of a controlled substance. He was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and conspiracy.
Two of Pabon’s customers, 35-year-old Terrence Dozier of Calverton and 30-year-old Terrence Smith of Greenport, sold heroin to others on the East End, including Kathryn Schirippa, 21, and Michael Maffetone, 27, both of Mattituck, who prosecutors said in turn sold the heroin to users in Southold Town, Riverhead, Hampton Bays and Flanders.
About 250 bags of heroin were found in the raid at Smith’s Madison Avenue home and 56 bags were found in Schirripa’s Cox Neck Road home. Schirippa and Maffetone were both charged with conspiracy.
In addition, almost five full sleeves of heroin, or 495 bags, were found in the Riverhead trailer where 53-year-old Cynthia Dozier-Walker lives, Spota said. She pleaded not guilty at Riverhead Town Justice Court to two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
The East End Drug Task Force is comprised of detectives and officers from the five East End town police departments, Suffolk County police’s emergency service and narcotics sections, state police, the Suffolk County sheriff’s department, park police and the probation department.
The arrests come shortly after Suffolk County officials re-launched the Suffolk County Drug Mapping Index, a website that was created to highlight the location of heroin arrests and increase awareness of the Long Island heroin epidemic. Police and lawmakers recently said they will soon start including arrests from the East End on the website–more than a year after the website debuted.
The arrest also comes as Suffolk County lawmakers approved measures to fund Suboxone-assisted therapy combined with outpatient counseling and support intended for treating adolescents with a shorter history of heroin or opiate addiction.
Those arrested and their charges include:
Lashanne Anderson, 31, of Calverton: criminal facilitation. Bail set at $5,000.
Shawn Badgett, 34, of Coram: four counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia. Bail set at $200,000 cash, $600,000 bond
Jessica Bosworth, 21, of Laurel: two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance. Bail set at $20,000.
Sharieff Burton, 51, of Riverhead: conspiracy. Remanded without bail.
Daniel Charbonnier, 21, of East Patchogue: criminal facilitation. Bail set at $5,000 cash, $25,000 bond.
Javan Coffey, 28, of Flanders: five counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Bail set at $9,000.
Shavar Coffey, 28, of Southampton: two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Bail set at $3,000
Cynthia Dozier Walker, 53, of Riverhead: two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Remanded without bail.
Terrence Dozier, 35, of Calverton: conspiracy and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Remanded without bail.
Edwin Felix, 27, of Jamaica: criminal sale of a controlled substance and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Bail set at $30,000.
Angela Hobbs, 29, of Medford: unlawful possession of marijuana and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Bail set at $150,000 cash, $300,000 bond.
Michael Maffetone, 27, of Mattituck: criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a hypodermic needle.
Juan Pabon, 42, of Ridgewood: criminal sale of a controlled substance and conspiracy. Remanded without bail.
David Patruno, 29, of Maspeth: criminal sale of a controlled substance. Remanded without bail.
Brian Rive, 36, of Mattituck: criminal facilitation. Released without bail.
Kathryn Schirripa, 21, of Mattituck: conspiracy and two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance. Bail set at $250,000.
Sonya Vonica-Smith, 46, of Greenport: criminal possession of a controlled substance. Bail set at $10,000.
Terrence Smith, 30, of Greenport: criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Preston Washington, 39, of Riverhead: criminal facilitation and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Rondalynn Williams, 32, of Coram: criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal usage of drug paraphernalia and three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Bail set at $150,000 cash, $300,000 bond.