Ex-NYPD Detective Pleads Guilty To Helping Heroin Ring

A retired NYPD narcotics detective pleaded guilty on Monday to helping run a large heroin ring that operated in Nassau County, Queens and Brooklyn.

Karan Young, 50, of Laurelton, Queens, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree conspiracy. She's due back in court on Aug. 27 for sentencing, and the DA's office says she's likely to be sentenced to probation.

“This retired narcotics detective knew the deadly impact of heroin yet she helped her boyfriend profit from dealing poison in our communities,” Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said. “Anyone who enables the drug traffickers who fuel this epidemic should expect to be met with aggressive prosecution.”

According to Singas, her office began investigating a Hempstead-based heroin dealer in January 2016. The investigation showed that the dealer was being supplied out of Bushwick by by Leigh Jackson, Young's longtime boyfriend.

• RELATED: Massive Heroin Ring Dismantled; 14 People Indicted

The Bushwick heroin ring packaged and sold heroin to dealers in Nassau, Queens and Brooklyn, and used barber shops and auto body shops in Brooklyn to distribute the drugs.

Singas said that Young helped Jackson by collecting money for him. A former NYPD detective who had been assigned to the Narcotics Bureau, Young was working for Delta Airlines at LaGuardia Airport when she was arrested.

She admitted to giving Jackson a mini NYPD shield and a PBA card to help him avoid police while he transported drugs.

The investigation led to the arrest of 14 people. They distributed more than 23,000 doses of heroin a week, worth about $170,000.

The 14 defendants distributed more than 23,000 doses of heroin a week and conservatively sold approximately $170,000 a week of the narcotic.

The arrests were the result of 15-month-long investigation, dubbed ‘Operation Tri-County Traffic’, into local heroin distributors by the District Attorney's office, the Nassau County Police Department and the FBI Long Island Gang Taskforce, with the assistance of the Hempstead Police Department, Rockville Centre Police Department, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, Suffolk County Police Department, New York Police Department and other agencies.

Photo: Nassau County District Attorney's Office