MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a retired NYPD narcotics detective pleaded guilty yesterday for her role in a large-scale heroin ring that operated in Nassau, Queens and Brooklyn.
Karan Young, 50, of Laurelton, Queens, pled guilty yesterday before Judge Robert Schwartz to Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree (an E felony). The defendant is due back in court August 27 and is expected to be sentenced to probation. The NCDA recommended 1-1/3 to four years in prison.
“This retired narcotics detective knew the deadly impact of heroin yet she helped her boyfriend profit from dealing poison in our communities,” DA Singas said. “Anyone who enables the drug traffickers who fuel this epidemic should expect to be met with aggressive prosecution.”
DA Singas said that, per the 12-count indictment, the NCDA began investigating a Hempstead-based heroin dealer in January 2016. The investigation revealed that the dealer was supplied by a Bushwick-based narcotics operation led by Leigh Jackson a/k/a Chris.
Jackson and other members of the Bushwick-based distribution network, packaged and sold heroin in sleeves and grams to various drug dealers in Nassau, Queens and Brooklyn and used barber shops and auto body shops in Brooklyn as distribution points.
Jackson’s long-time romantic partner, Karan Young, is a retired NYPD detective formerly assigned to the Narcotics Bureau. Young assisted Jackson in his narcotics distribution business by collecting money for him. At the time of her arrest Young was working for Delta Airlines at LaGuardia Airport. During her plea, she admitted to providing Jackson with a mini-NYPD shield and PBA card to help him avoid detection by law enforcement while he transported narcotics.
The 14 defendants distributed more than 23,000 doses of heroin a week and conservatively sold approximately $170,000 a week of the narcotic.
The arrests were the result of 15-month-long investigation, dubbed ‘Operation Tri-County Traffic’, into local heroin distributors by the NCDA, the Nassau County Police Department and the FBI Long Island Gang Taskforce, with the assistance of the Hempstead Police Department, Rockville Centre Police Department, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, Suffolk County Police Department, New York Police Department and other agencies.
Jackson pled to Attempted Operating as a Major Trafficker a (B felony) on December 12, 2017 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. To date, final dispositions have been reached in all 14 cases.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Lee Genser of DA Singas’ Special Operations Narcotics and Gangs bureau is prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by Christopher Graziano, Esq.
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