Crime & Safety
60-Year-Old Dealer Sold Heroin To Rockland Drug Ring: DA
He was supplying dealers operating out of private homes who catered almost exclusively to drug buyers in Rockland County, the DA said.
A 60-year-old dealer who was supplying heroin to a large home-based drug ring in Rockland County has pleaded guilty, Acting Rockland County District Attorney Kevin Gilleece announced Thursday.
Elio Duarte of the Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty to two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, class "A-II" Felonies.
“We have no tolerance for heroin dealers like this defendant who profit from selling poison in our community," Gilleece said. "We anticipate a lengthy sentence which will send a strong message to all dealers that illegal drug trafficking in Rockland County will not go unpunished.”
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Duarte is one of 11 people charged Feb. 28 in connection with a major heroin trafficking ring operating in Rockland. The ring allegedly sold several heroin brands, including "True Religion," "Sexy Lady," and "Pitbull." The indictments described a tightly-knit narcotics ring operating from private homes in Haverstraw and West Haverstraw that catered almost exclusively to drug buyers in Rockland.
As part of "Operation True Lady," detectives with the Haverstraw Police Department, the FBI and the Rockland County Drug Task Force identified Duarte as a large-scale supplier of heroin to local drug dealers, including Ramon Dejesus and Ernest Camacho who were allegedly utilizing their Haverstraw homes as their respective bases of operations.
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On Dec. 14, 2018, Duarte was arrested in a vehicle stop in Haverstraw, along with his wife Jeanette Toribio, 55, of the Dominican Republic and daughter Yanery Martinez, 35, of Paterson, New Jersey. All three were occupants in Martinez' Toyota Highlander, from which the Rockland County Drug Task Force and Haverstraw police said they recovered more than three pounds of heroin.
As part of the plea agreement, Duarte admitted to selling narcotics at various locations in Haverstraw on that day.
He will be sentenced by the Honorable Larry Schwartz in Rockland County Court on June 4.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Dugandzic prosecuted the case.
SEE: 11 Arrests in Home-Based Heroin Ring: Rockland County DA
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