Allen Evans is the second major supplier to be sentenced to 10 years in prison as part of Operation Honeycomb investigation
MINEOLA, N.Y. – Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce A. Smith announced that a Copiague man was sentenced today to ten years in prison on narcotics and conspiracy charges related to the trafficking of cocaine in Nassau County, including being found by police in the possession of a kilogram of cocaine during a car stop.
Allen Evans, 47, of Copiague, pleaded guilty before Judge Robert Schwartz on July 26, 2021 to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree (an A-II felony) and conspiracy in the second degree (a B felony). Evans was sentenced today to ten years in prison and five years post-release supervision.
“High-level drug dealers have flooded our communities with narcotics during the pandemic, resulting in increased overdoses that destroy lives and kill people,” said Acting DA Smith. “This defendant was selling up to a kilogram of cocaine at a time to other dealers who distributed it throughout the county. Allen Evans was prosecuted as part of Operation Honeycomb, an investigation that dealt a significant blow to the illegal drug trade – and it’s violence – in Hempstead.”
Evans emerged as a major supplier as part of an 18-month investigation called Operation Honeycomb, which resulted in the indictment of 40 individuals for alleged involvement in a major narcotics trafficking ring that operated in the Hempstead area.
Evans, and other individuals arrested as part of that investigation, acted as distributors to numerous dealers in Nassau County and variously worked together to obtain and distribute narcotics.
According to the investigation, over a four-month period in 2020, Evans sold cocaine with an estimated street value of over $300,000, selling amounts between a half a kilogram to a kilogram at a time and trafficking the cocaine from Suffolk into Nassau County.
On November 13, 2020, based on information obtained through wiretapped phone calls, Evans was stopped in a car and found with a kilogram of cocaine that surveillance confirmed he had just purchased in the Bronx. Evans was arrested by Nassau County Police for the incident and re-arrested in March 2021 as part of the Operation Honeycomb indictment.
In March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of cocaine began to vary widely, with increasing demand.
Cocaine prices rose sharply during this time, from approximately $28,000 to $30,000 per kilogram wholesale pre-pandemic to a peak of $55,000 per kilogram in August 2020. The investigation found Evans was selling a kilogram of cocaine for more than $51,000 at times during the pandemic.
Evans is the second major supplier arrested as part of Operation Honeycomb to be sentenced.
Jamel Shands, 44, of Hempstead, pled guilty on July 9, 2021 to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree (an A-II felony) and conspiracy in the second degree, and was sentenced on September 10, 2021 to ten years in prison and five years post-release supervision.
Shands played a significant role working together with major traffickers to sell cocaine throughout Nassau County.
Cases against the other suppliers and traffickers arrested during the operation are pending.
NCDA thanks the Federal Bureau of Investigation Long Island Gang Task Force; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Long Island Field Division; and the Nassau County Police Department for their partnership in this investigation.
Senior Investigative Counsel Patrick Brand and Senior Assistant District Attorney Andrew Lee of the Major Crimes Bureau prosecuted the case. Evans is represented by Daniel Russo, Esq.
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