Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office Investigators from the Criminal Investigations Bureau and Internal Security, in collaboration with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, conducted a three-month investigation into a conspiracy to traffic drugs into the Riverhead Jail through the U.S. Postal Service and jail visitations.
The investigation resulted in five civilian visitors and three inmates being charged with 25 felonies and 12 misdemeanors, including conspiracy, criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal sale of a controlled substance, promoting prison contraband, and criminal facilitation.
Suffolk County Sheriff Dr. Errol D. Toulon, Jr. commends his staff for their hard work and determination in stopping drugs and other contraband from entering the Suffolk County Correctional Facility. “Through surveillance, searches, and detailed investigatory work, these investigators were able to uncover a complex plan to traffic dangerous drugs into the facility. I thank them and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office for their hard work and dedication to keeping the staff and inmates of the Suffolk County Correctional Facility safe and for stopping these drugs from getting into our facility,” said Sheriff Toulon.
“The defendants allegedly conspired to introduce dangerous drugs into the SCCF. Thanks to the excellent work of the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Bureau, working with prosecutors from my office, this scheme was thwarted,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney. “I want to thank Sheriff Toulon and his team for their timely assistance. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office stands ready at all times to assist Sheriff Toulon in enforcing the law and maintaining safety and order in the SCCF.”
An undetermined amount of drugs including Heroin, Buprenorphine, Cannabis, K2spice and other contraband were trafficked by sewing the drugs into the fabric of clothing and other property, as well as secreting them into the packaging material itself. The subjects then utilized the U.S. mail and civilians visiting jailed inmates in an attempt to traffic the articles into the jail, where the articles were interdicted by Sheriff’s Office Investigators who were conducting surveillance and phone monitoring throughout the investigation.
All information contained in this release has been provided for general informational purposes only. To the extent that pending criminal matters are discussed, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
For more information, please contact Sgt. Paul Spinella at Paul.Spinella@suffolkcountyny.gov.