Riverhead Woman Indicted in Heroin Ring Bust
A Brooklyn-to-Suffolk Heroin ring has been busted and 14 defendents were arraigned Wednesday at Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverside, according to the district attorney’s office.
“These defendants flooded Suffolk County with tens of thousands of bags of heroin they brought here from a Brooklyn dealer, Miguel Vicente, who would prepare kilos of the drug for street sales,” District Attorney Thomas Spota said. “In fact, Vicente, to encourage repeat business and dealer loyalty, would regularly overfill the bags.
According to Spota’s office, the Suffolk County ringleaders were Kelly Mullen, 29, and her husband, Aaron Smith, 57. “Mullen and Smith’s Holtsville home served as the main distribution point for heroin pickups by local drug dealers from Holbrook, Oakdale, Islip, Central Islip, Ronkonkoma, Shirley and Riverhead,” the statement reads.
The heroin bears the stamp “high octane.”
“As many as five dealers a day came to this house, where five to ten children live at any given time, to pick up their heroin,” Spota said. “When we arrived with a search warrant, there were bags of heroin scattered about, including heroin left next to the crib of Mullen and Smith’s daughter.”
Of the 14 indicted, one was an East Ender, Jacquelyn Cleary, 27, of RIverhead, was charged with second-degree conspiracy, third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Cleary pleaded not guilty.