BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY February 9, 2020 6
Feds seize $7M in ‘Fire’ fentanyl in Sedgwick apt.
BY JASON COHEN
Seven million dollarsworth of fentanyl
was taken off the street last week during a
west Bronx drug bust.
On Wednesday, January 28, law enforcement,
announced the arrests of six individuals
in connection with a large-scale narcotics
packaging and distribution network operating
in Kingsbridge.
The long-term investigation culminated
in the feds seizing approximately 750,000
glassine envelopes of suspected heroin/fentanyl
from an apartment at 2559 Sedgwick Avenue
during a court-authorized search.
“This enforcement operation shows that
heroin is still the neighborhood stalker bringing
danger and death to our doorsteps,” said
DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan.
“This seizure is incredibly signifi cant because
it has saved hundreds of thousands of
people from starting a cycle of opioid addiction
by removing three quarters of a million
heroin fi lled glassines from a one-bedroom
apartment in the Bronx. Great police work
and a common goal go a long way in keeping
our city safe from the dangers of illegal
drugs,” he added.
Members of the DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement
Task Force and investigators with
the Offi ce of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor
conducted several days of intensive physical
and video surveillance at the seven-story residential
building.
Over the course of the weekend, they observed
a total of eight individuals coming and
going from apartment 6A at the Sedgwick location,
the suspected narcotics packaging
mill.
Agents and offi cers recognized some of the
suspects from prior surveillance of the unit.
The bust yielded hundreds of thousands of
glassine envelopes.
The illegal contraband covered two tabletops
and overfl owed out of plastic bins and
cardboard boxes onto the fl oor and a bed.
Equipment and paraphernalia typical of
a heroin/fentanyl mill were present in the
room, including a glass table, desk lamps, a
scale, grinders, empty glassine envelopes,
small spoons, an inkbottle, inkpads and
stamps.
Livo Valdez, Jaslin Baldera, Frederick
Baldera, Frandi Ledema, Diego Tejada, and
Pafraimy Antonio are charged with criminal
possession of a controlled substance in
the fi rst and third degrees and criminally
using drug paraphernalia in the second
degree. The defendants were arraigned on
the same day.
“The sheer volume of heroin and fentanyl
packages assembled in a small apartment
just off the Major Deegan Expressway
in the Bronx is shocking,” said Special
Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
Even veteran narcotics investigators
were surprised by the output of this packaging
operation, which was run out of a
nondescript apartment in the borough affl
icted by the city’s highest rate of overdose
death.
“The arrests of six individuals, and
drug-fi lled envelopes destined for distribution
here and in New England, underscore
New York City’s role as a hub for mass distribution
of deadly drugs. I thank the Drug
Enforcement Task Force and the investigators
and prosecutors from the Offi ce of
the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for their
dedication and commitment to preventing
lethal drugs from ever reaching our communities,”
Brennan said.
The alledged drug dealers were released
without bail on the day they were
arrested.
Fentanyl found in a $7 million bust in Kingsbirdge.
Photo Courtesy Offi ce of the Special Narcotics
Prosecutor For the City of New York
Fentanyl that was found in a $7 million bust in
Kingsbridge.
Offi ce of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor For the City of
New York
DEP’s reservoir basin letter doesn’t please everyone
BY JASON COHEN
While the NYC Department of Environmental
Protection reversed its plan to keep
the Jerome Park Reservoir basin empty, a
letter sent to Community Board 8 on Monday,
Febuary 3 revealed the agency may not
be fully committing to the community’s demands
.
The letter stated that DEP Commissioner
Vincent Sapienza has set a new agency policy
requiring a minimum of approximately
fi ve to eight feet of water in the north basin
year round.
According to the DEP, this amount of water
will cover infrastructure at the bottom
of the reservoir while also providing enough
free space in the basin to capture water from
the New Croton Aqueduct if the fi ltration
plant shuts down for an emergency.
Upcoming work will require drainage
of both basins to access, repair and fi x the
section of the wall that runs along the Old
Croton Aqueduct.
During the construction period, at least
one basin will be kept fi lled. The NYS Historic
Preservation Offi ce and the NYC Public
Design Commission have signed off on
these plans.
However, local environmental groups
are not on board with the plan.
“I am not happy that the water in the
north basin will be only fi ve to eight feet,”
said Karen Argetni of the Bronx Council for
Environmental Equality.”
Argenti blasted the DEP for not having
made arrangements for an emergency situation
when it originally built the $4 billion
Croton Filter Plant.
“For them to say they need it now, after
six years of the plant being up and running,
is really bad planning,” she said.
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz,
who grew up across the street from
the reservoir, said this project has been a
personal issue to him for many years. The
assemblyman said he has mixed feelings on
the DEP’s plan.
Dinowitz is glad the DEP responded to
the public outcry, but feels it did not go far
enough to resolve the community’s complaint.
“I understand that DEP wants to plan for
overfl ow and emergency conditions at the
Croton Filtration Plant, but frankly this
should have been something they thought
about several decades ago when the agency
was taking away our parkland in the fi rst
place,” Dinowitz stated.
“I think the consensus in our community
is that anything less than a restoration
of a reasonable amount of water at a
reasonable height in the reservoir, meaning
water that is clearly visible from adjacent
buildings and parks, is unacceptable,”
he added.
In October 2019, the DEP sent a letter
contending that the agency’s intention to
leave the north basin of the Jerome Park
Reservoir empty didn’t require an environmental
impact study.
The spokesman also stated that if required
to facilitate the capital project, the
basin might be drained temporarily.
In January 2018, DEP announced the
start of a $15 million project to rehabilitate
gatehouses, install new, lower fencing and
upgrade security infrastructure at the reservoir.
Work on the project began late in 2018,
will continue through 2021 and will help to
ensure the long-term reliability of the city’s
Croton water supply system.
Residents have fi led a petition with the DEP to not keep the basin of Jerome Park Reservoir empty.
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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