Feds: NYPD cop accused in VT drug distribution
Federal prosecutors in Vermont say a New York Police Department officer has been indicted for a conspiracy designed to distribute oxycodone by selling to addicts in the Green Mountain State.
Authorities arrested Andre Clarke, 36, of the Bronx, New York, on Monday in Queens on a charge of conspiring with two Vermonters to distribute Oxycodone from 2011 through June 2014 in the Burlington area, officials said.
Clarke, who began work in 2002 as a New York City police officer, will have his initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. A federal magistrate is expected at the court hearing to give Clarke a date to report to Vermont for his arraignment in federal court.
The Vermont hearing will be Clarke's first chance to enter a plea to the oxycodone conspiracy charge.
Clarke, also known as "Dre," is named in a single conspiracy charge as part of a 16-count returned by a federal grand jury. It says he conspired with two named co-defendants and others "known and unknown to the grand jury."
Dannis Hackney of Burlington is named in 14 of the 16 counts, the indictment said.
Michael "Beast" Foreste, who lists a Valley Stream, New York, address, is named in five counts, including a forfeiture charge that seeks him to surrender property from the conspiracy, including a 2007 black Lexus, records show.
Two years ago Foreste was convicted in Vermont for possession with intent to distribute 650 oxycodene pills found in his boxer shorts during a traffic stop. He was sentenced in December 2013 to one year and one day in federal prison, but was allowed to remain free pending his appeal.
The latest investigation showed Foreste had two bank accounts that had significant deposits and withdrawals, records show. They show between January 2014 and April 2014 about $130,000 in deposits were made in Chittenden County. About $67,000 in withdrawals were made in Valley Stream, where Foreste was living with his mother at the time, records show.
Hackney had 300 oxycodene pills when arrested in South Burlington May 16, 2014, court records show. At the time he was on supervised release for a December 2008 drug conviction in federal court in Vermont, records show. They also show Hackney has felony drug convictions in state court in Vermont in 2003 and 2006.
The conspiracy
The new indictment, which was returned by a grand jury in Burlington last week, is the fourth in the ever-expanding investigation that began more than a year ago, officials said.
Clarke, who lived in the Bronx and Long Island during 2011 to 2014, supplied oxycodone to Foreste. Foreste, in turn, supplied the pills to Hackney, who sold them to Burlington area addicts, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Foreste personally brought Hackney pills, and sometimes sent them by U.S. Mail, prosecutors said.
They said Clarke, Foreste, and Hackney transferred drug proceeds using various bank accounts. The charges against Foreste and Hackney include two counts of money laundering based on banking activity, officials said.
Foreste and Hackney have been in custody since their arrests in June 2014 and are awaiting trial.
Clarke and his two co-defendants face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the conspiracy count, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
The money laundering counts also carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The actual penalty, upon any conviction, will be determined based in part on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which are advisory, and other statutory sentencing factors.
Assistant United States Attorney Christina E. Nolan is handling the prosecution.
The investigation has been a collaborative effort of Homeland Security Investigations; the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; and the New York City Police Internal Affairs Bureau.
Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@freepressmedia.com Follow Mike on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FreepsMikeD