34 Charged After Sullivan County Drug Investigation
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- More than 30 people have been indicted after an investigation into drugs and firearms in rural Sullivan County.
Law enforcement officials announced Tuesday the unsealing of nine indictments charging 34 defendants.
One of the defendants, Darcy Copeland, allegedly ran a heroin distribution ring based in Monticello, New York, despite being in prison for the past year. Three people are charged with helping him.
According to the indictment, Copeland often received guns as payment for the heroin.
There was no record of an attorney for Copeland.
Others are charged with participating in a separate ring that distributed cocaine.
Several defendants are accused of breaking federal law by possessing guns after having been convicted of previous felonies.
The sprawling network of dealers expanded outward to other town in Sullivan County, authorities said. The amount of seizures was not large, but neither is the population in the area, said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
"To put it in perspective, Monticello has about 6,700 residents. New York City has about 8.4 million," Bharara told reporters, including WCBS 880's Irene Cornell. "On a per-capita basis, just selling 1 kilogram, or 1,000 grams of heroin, in Monticello, would be the equivalent of dumping over 1,200 kilograms, or 1.2 million grams, of heroin in New York City."
The U.S. attorney quoted a local coroner as saying that a quarter of all deaths in Sullivan County are drug related.
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