| 5 Years
in Prison for
NYPD Officer
Arrested For
Kilo Fentanyl
Sale now Co-D
Sealed Letter
by
Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY EXCLUSIVE,
Nov 4 – A NYPD officer who was
on modified duty for three
years was arrested and
presented on October 20 in
Federal court for trying to
selling kilo-weight fentanyl.
Inner City Press was there.
She was released on $100,000
bond.
U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge James L. Cott
was presiding. Inner City
Press thread.
[Echo of US v
Mestre case Inner City Press
first covered here]
Judge: I am
setting bail for Ms Baez:
$100,000 bond with 2
co-signers. She can be
released on her own signature
today, home detention in her
Arnow Ave home.
Jump cut to March
28, 2024 - Baez out of
custody, and Martinez in from
the MDC, appeared before Judge
Denise L. Cote, who set an
October 21, 2024 trial date.
AUSA Weingarten said she had
gotten the funds to blur a
cooperating witness out of a
video to be provided in
discovery. There were
supporters, for both, in the
courtroom.
Jump cut to April
16, when she pled guilty:
"GRACE ROSA BAEZ pled guilty
today to conspiracy to
distribute and possess with
intent to distribute heroin,
fentanyl, and
para-fluorofentanyl.
BAEZ pled guilty before U.S.
District Judge Denise L.
Cote."
On June 25 Baez's
lawyer asked to push
sentencing into September,
supplementing the request on
June 26. Judge Cote then
denied the request,
reiterating that the
sentencing remains July 18.
On July 12, Baez'
lawyer wrote in, citing
Stockholm Syndrome and asking
for "a period of home
confinement."
On July 16, the
US Attorney's Office wrote in
asking for 71 months.
Sentencing is set for July 18.
Inner City Press
went on July 18. The Assistant
US Attorney reiterated the
request for 71 months, noting
that the plea deal had taken
the otherwise applicable 10
year minimum off the table.
Defense counsel
focused on domestic violence,
and asked for no prison.
Baez when she
spoke said she used to go to
work with a bruised face, "it
was insane."
Judge Cote
accepted as fact that Baez was
abused, but said the badge was
abused to. She sentences Baez
to 60 months - five years - to
begin on September 6.
On August 12
co-defendant Cesar Martinez,
in a redacted submission
saying he is not well, asked
for 121 months, one more month
than the 120 month minimum,
scheduled for August 20.
Then docketed on
August 14, Cesar Martinez
himself wrote in asking for a
new lawyer, including a
dispute about whether the
weight of drug packaging
should count...
On August 16,
just as the government wrote
in asking for 151 months,
Judge Cote set a change of
counsel proceeding for August
20.
On August 20, the
change of counsel was
effectuated - and the AUSA was
told to calculate the drug
weights by August 30, with a
defense letter due September
20. Detention was continued.
On Novembe 4,
Judge Cote issued an order
that "having received the
defendant's letter of November
4 which will be filed under
seal... defense counsel should
be prepared to address the
letter at defendant's November
8 sentencing."
More details and
history on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here.
The case is now
US v. Baez et al., 24-cr-164
(Cote)
***
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