A police officer and his girlfriend were arrested last week after selling cocaine to an undercover officer in Long Island City, officials said.
Police Officer Jose Sierra, 41, and his girlfriend Lina Maria Bedoya Muriel, 30, were arrested on May 25 in front of a home on 89th Street off Astoria Boulevard in East Elmhurst. They were both charged with second- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.
Sierra, a six-year veteran who worked at the NYPD Housing Bureau Patrol Service Area 7 in the Bronx, allegedly sold drugs out of a 2017 Honda Accord with Bedoya Muriel twice to undercover officers. Each time, Bedoya Muriel sat in the passenger seat and handed officers packets of cocaine in exchange for money.
Prosecutors said the couple allegedly sold 10 packets of cocaine for $160 on May 16 in the vicinity of 38th Avenue and 11th Street in Long Island City, and 12 packets of cocaine for $200 on May 23 at the same location. On May 25 at 6 p.m., investigators executed a court-authorized search warrant and found 18 folded packages of cocaine on Bedoya Muriel and 36 packages in a black bag in the trunk of the car.
During a second search at the 89th Street location, officers found a shrink-wrapped package of cocaine that weighed about 125 grams, a pistol registered to Sierra, three digital scales and the couple’s passports.“Sierra has disgraced the badge and violated the oath he took as a police officer when he crossed the line to the other side and began distributing narcotics,” said Angel Melendez, special agent in charge Homeland Security Investigations New York. “HSI will remain steadfast in its commitment to arrest all those who flood our streets with dangerous drugs.”
