Authorities in New York arrested a police officer with the NYPD after she was caught trafficking heroin into Massachusetts and returning with drug money.
Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration made the bust of Officer Yessenia Jimenez, 31, after surveilling her for several months in connection to a broader investigation of drug smuggling from Mexico. Jimenez and her boyfriend, identified as 33-year-old Luis Soto, allegedly attempted to distribute several hundred grams of heroin, reports the New York Post.
A DEA agent stopped Jimenez and Soto Tuesday outside their apartment in the Bronx after seeing Soto unload bags from the trunk of the car. The pair was returning from Massachusetts where they are suspected of meeting with another heroin trafficker.
Police searching the vehicle found $25,000 stuffed into Jimenez’s purse along with her NYPD service weapon. Another $25,000 in drug cash was found in a plastic grocery bag. A subsequent search of their apartment turned up 250 grams of powder that authorities suspect to be heroin.
Thane Rehn, the assistant US attorney in Manhattan, unsuccessfully attempted to have Jimenez held without bail, noting, “the defendant’s own apartment was being used as a stash house.”
Jimenez was released Tuesday on $75,000 bond while Soto is being held without bail. A spokesman for the NYPD said Jimenez has been suspended without pay.
Large quantities of narcotics continue to infiltrate the U.S. due to the relentless efforts of drug traffickers taking advantage of America’s deteriorating opioid epidemic.
President Trump Vows To Win The War Against Opioid Addiction:
Authorities charged 12 drug traffickers earlier in March, including an auxiliary police officer, in Ohio for allegedly distributing narcotics and laundering money for the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday shows the opioid epidemic is “accelerating.” Emergency room hospitalizations for opioid overdoses increased by 30 percent between the third quarters of 2016 and 2017 as opioid addiction continued its rapid spread throughout the population.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under age 50, killing more than 64,000 people in 2016.
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