On Wednesday the Westchester District Attorney announced that a multijurisdictional collaboration that included Greenwich Police Dept, resulted in arrests of opioid dealers in the region.
A release from Greenwich Police said that they began working during the Summer of 2018 with law enforcement agencies in New York, including the Port Chester Police Dept and the Westchester District Attorney’s Office to stem the flow of illegal narcotics, including opioids, coming out of New York into Connecticut.
The investigation began with a confidential informant developed by investigators from the Greenwich Police Narcotics Section.
This informant was able to assist detectives in identifying multiple drug dealers from New York State who supplied people in the Greenwich and Westchester County area.
Normally, jurisdictional issues arise from the proximity of the state line. However, Greenwich Police said that in this case law enforcement agencies worked together.
As the majority of the drug dealers resided in New York, the Westchester County DA office took the lead in the investigation.
Meetings were held between the Westchester DA’s Office and the office of the Connecticut State’s Attorney in Stamford.
Several Greenwich detectives were cross-sworn as special criminal investigators for the Westchester County DA Office.
In a release on Wednesday afternoon, Captain Robert Berry described the case as “a text-book example of the benefits of collaboration between law enforcement agencies.”
“Greenwich sharing so much of its border with New York state necessitates close cooperation with authorities across the state line,” Berry said. “The close and professional relationship between the agencies involved, especially Greenwich and Port Chester detectives, allowed for a seamless, thorough and unwavering investigation of the supply of dangerous drugs into the area communities.”
The drug dealers arrested operated in and around Port Chester, Greenwich and the Bronx.
Wednesday’s sweep was a culmination of a yearlong investigation stemming from fatal heroin overdoses.
Five men were taken into custody in early-morning raids on Wednesday in multiple locations in Port Chester.
The arrests were conducted by Village of Port Chester Police, Greenwich Police, Westchester County Police, and District Attorney’s Criminal Investigators with assistance from the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force.
Arraigned were Eleonay Narvaez, Kaley Herring, Andre Price, Eugene Rodrigues and Javelle Ross who was the only one to have bail set. Ross’s bail was set at $75,000 cash/$150k bond.
A sixth defendant, Rafael aka “Ralph” Olivera, is being held in Rikers Island, New York City, after his arrest in the Bronx last week.
According to a release from Westchester County DA’s office Public information officer Helen Jonsen, the wider investigation showed the dealers also had strong ties to Mount Vernon and the Bronx. The indictments allege all of these defendants sold heroin, often packaged in glassine envelopes (“glassines”) bearing a brand stamp that resembled the New York Yankees logo—with the letters “NY” in the distinctive blue fonts.
In a statement Wednesday, Chief Richard Conway of the Village of Port Chester Police said, “are the culmination of an investigation that began in late 2018 after the Port Chester Police Detective Bureau, and the Greenwich Police Department noted an upsurge in overdose deaths attributable to heroin and fentanyl. Acting with a sense of urgency, the agencies involved functioned seamlessly in a combined effort. Chief Conway added, “The officers involved performed admirably. They did so often under the most challenging and dangerous conditions. I could not be more proud of our Departments participation in this endeavor, and could not be more grateful than I am to every law enforcement officer who participated.”