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A man was charged with four counts of the drug crime of criminal sale of a controlled substance, four counts of the crime of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and seventh degree.
The charges contained pertaining to four sales and cocaine possession allegedly made by the man to two undercover police officers. The incident took place in a public school, a junior high school, where the man was employed as a security guard.
At the trial, the case against the man is consisted of the testimony of a detective and a police officer. The detective testified that he was assigned to the narcotics unit of the police department as an undercover police officer and he was instructed to conduct an investigation inside the public school. The investigation was done with the knowledge of the board of education which provided him with bogus credentials. The detective was identified as another person and a staff analyst for the board. According to the detective’s testimony, during the first few days at the school he became acquainted with staff members, initiated conversations about the subject of drugs with some staff members, who were under age forty, since persons of that age were more likely to be involved in drugs. The investigator first spoke to the man, who the witness knew to be a security guard. Another conversation with the security guard was done by the investigator and followed again by another person but neither one of those occasions did they discuss the subject of drugs.
The detective testified about the man’s first drug sale to him. A female person in the school told the detective that he was going to introduce him to somebody that could turn him on to drugs. Thereafter, the next afternoon, the man and the female person together with the detective, met inside a room of the school. At that time, the female person advised the man that she was interested in copping, which means buying some cocaine, and the detective use the word blow which means used for cocaine. In response, the man informed the detective that he had available to sell 20 which means $20.00 worth of cocaine, 25 which means $25.00 worth of cocaine, 50 which means $50.00 worth of cocaine, and half grams and grams which means $100.00 worth of cocaine. After the man finished reciting his cocaine inventory and its prices, the detective stated that he wanted two twenty fives. The group proceeded up to the third floor program office and the man opened the door with the key. The group then proceeded inside the room. Inside the room were a desk and one locker. The detective testified that after opening the locker, the man removed from its top shelf a brown paper bag, turned over on the desk and bring out numerous tin foils of different sizes. The man gave two tin foils and said they were twenty fives, they cost $25 each. The detective gave $50 of pre-recorded buy money.
The second drug transaction between the detective and the man took place. Around 1:00 P.M., the detective approached the man on the first floor lobby of the school and told the man that he was interested in copping some blow. The man replied that he only had a 25 left, in view of the fact that earlier that day he had sold a few in the basement of the school. The detective then told the man that he would buy the $25.00 worth of cocaine. Subsequently, the man once again escorted the witness to the third floor program office where the man opened the locker, removed a tin foil packet from the top shelf, placed it inside a matchbook and handed that matchbook to the witness.
The man allegedly made two more cocaine sales to another police officer. The police officer, who was also assigned to Narcotics as an undercover officer, was conducting at the same time with the detective, as a separate investigation inside the public school. The police officer testified that representatives of the board provided her with bogus credentials, which identified her as a school lunch helper.
The court produced evidence at trial that the four tin foils, which the man sold to detective and the police officer, were analyzed at the police department laboratory, and each one was found to contain cocaine.
The man contends the trial court lacks merit. Consequently, the court convicted the man of the crimes of four counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and sentenced him to concurrent terms of imprisonment of three to nine years on each count.
There are people in our society that can be easily tempted to do unlawful things because of money. Even if they know the punishment in doing the crime, they tend to risk their life in trade of financial gain. If you are caught in this kind of situation, you can call the NY Drug Attorneys or NY Criminal Attorneys at Stephen Bilkis and Associates to assess your case and find the most appropriate approach to win your lawsuits.

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