NEW YORK (NewsNation) — A New York Police Department officer and her boyfriend are facing charges after they allegedly tried to sell fentanyl to an informant.
A complaint filed in Manhattan federal court claims the officer, 37-year-old Grace Rosa Baez and her boyfriend, 43-year-old Cesar Martinez, had multiple meetings with a confidential law enforcement source regarding drug trafficking.
In one meeting, the pair offered to sell kilogram amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine to the source.
In mid-October, the pair met the source near their Yonkers apartment and handed the source a candy container containing white powder. It was later tested and confirmed to be fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
After several more meetings with the source, Baez and Martinez were arrested when police saw a package of suspected drugs being thrown from their apartment window. Police also found a kilogram press inside the home.
Baez and Martinez face charges of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and heroin and narcotics distribution.
They face up to 30 years of prison if convicted on all charges.
“Grace Rosa Baez took an oath to protect and serve the people of New York City. As alleged, she flagrantly violated that oath by pushing poison, including fentanyl and heroin, which are driving the nation’s deadly opioid crisis and have been responsible for thousands of tragic deaths in this city and around the nation,” a statement from U.S. Attorney Damian Williams read in part.