Repeat Offender Sentenced After Selling Fentanyl, Cocaine To Officer: DA

PORT JEFFERSON STATION, NY — A repeat violent offender was sentenced to 45 years in prison after selling fentanyl and cocaine to an undercover officer, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Nicholas Cox, 36, of Port Jefferson Station, was sentenced to 45 years in prison after a jury convicted him of selling the drugs to the officer, the DA said.

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Cox was sentenced as a prior violent felony offender after racking up a dozen criminal convictions, two of them violent felonies, since 2009, Tierney said.

The evidence at trial established that Cox sold cocaine and fentanyl to an undercover police officer with the Suffolk County Police Department on four separate occasions between February 2 and February 20, 2023, Tierney said.

On February 22, 2023, police executed a court-authorized search warrant at Cox's apartment and recovered more than half an ounce of cocaine, a misdemeanor amount of fentanyl, and $9,247 in cash, including $730 in buy money from the undercover officer, the DA said.

Police also recovered drug paraphernalia, including packaging material, medical gloves and a digital scale used in the distribution of narcotics, Tierney said.

Cox was taken into custody at the scene and has remained in custody since his arrest, the DA said.

On September 24, Cox was convicted — after a jury trial heard before Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski — of charges including six counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, class B felonies; eight counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, class B felonies; one count of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor; and two counts of second-degree criminally possessing drug paraphernalia, class A misdemeanors, Tierney said.

Cox was previously convicted of second-degree assault, second-degree attempted assault, aggravated harassment, driving while impaired, and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property in 2018; resisting arrest in 2016; seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance in 2014; resisting arrest in 2012; second-degree robbery; resisting arrest, third-degree grand larceny and an additional resisting arrest in 2009, Tierney said.

Cox also has three open criminal cases on charges of public lewdness, Tierney said.

On Wednesday, Justice Pilewski sentenced Cox to 45 years in prison, to be followed by three years of post-release supervision, Tierney said.

He was represented by Christopher Gioe. "Mr. Cox received a 45-year sentence for narcotics sales. He was acquitted of criminal possession of a loaded firearm and one additional charge of criminal possession of controlled substance," Gioe said. "We are concerned about the court's decision because the police permitted my client's conduct and then requested consecutive sentences. We plan to appeal based on several evidentiary issues and procedural violations."

"New York State needs to stop the revolving door of recidivism and return to intensive monitoring of parolees to keep the public safe, particularly where those parolees are violent felony offenders like this defendant with a record going back 17 years," said Tierney. "I thank the Suffolk County Police Department's narcotics section and the prosecutors in my narcotics bureau for ensuring that this defendant was held to full account for his repeated criminal behavior."