May 15, 2017 By Christian Murray
A Corona man faces up to 12-years in prison for allegedly selling heroin laced with the painkiller Fentanyl, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Hubert Harris, 66, was arraigned Thursday after he was caught in possession of 98 envelopes of what police believed contained a mixture of Fentanyl and heroin. He was charged with the criminal possession as well as sale of a controlled substance and for resisting arrest.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said that heroin—including that laced with Fentanyl—has been making a comeback in New York City. “Over the past four months, Queens has had 57 fatal overdoes—far exceeding the number of homicides and vehicular deaths that have occurred in the borough so far this year.”
Harris came to the attention of police when he was observed selling envelopes of heroin on April 6. The police stopped the buyer who allegedly had five envelopes of a substance that contained a mixture of heroin, Fentanyl and cocaine. The buyer had another five envelopes containing Fentanyl and the prescription painkiller Tramadol.
The Queens North Narcotics Division allegedly caught Harris on May 9 while he riding his bicycle in the Queensbridge section of Long Island City. He was in possession of the 98 envelopes.
“My office is committed to working closely with the NYPD and our federal law enforcement colleagues to stop this growing epidemic,” Brown said. “According to data from the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, there were more than 1,300 fatal overdoes in New York City in 2016, and perhaps more disturbing, is that approximately half of the drug overdoses in the last six months of 2016 involved Fentanyl.”
Harris was ordered held on $100,000 bail and is to return to court on May 24,
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