Three Ozone Park men were arrested and criminally charged with participating in a narcotics trafficking operation based out of their residence located directly across the street from a school.
Isaiah Cruz, 26, Brendan Lao, 26, and Adam Einrich all live at 150-28 Raleigh St., where large amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and oxycodone were stored along with three pill pressing machines that were all recovered when law enforcement raided their home on the night of Monday, Jan. 5, according to New York City Office of the Special Narcotics (SNP) Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. More than four kilograms of the deadly fentanyl, in powder and pill form, were recovered from the residence, across from P.S. 377Q, S.T.A.R. Leadership Academy.
“This expansive poison pill production operation displayed boldness and callous disregard for life,” Brennan said. “Located directly across the street from a public school, it had potential to produce hundreds of thousands of potentially lethal pills, which looked like legitimate pharmaceuticals with industry-capacity pill presses. I thank the investigators and agents who diligently tracked it down before any lives were lost.”
The months-long investigation was conducted by the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, the SNP Investigators Unit and included DEA agents, the NYPD and New York State Troopers.
As detailed in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court, on Jan. 6, agents and officers conducted court-authorized searches of the Raleigh Street residence and a second location in Ozone Park, a self-storage unit located at 103-39 98th Street. In addition to the fentanyl, more than four kilograms of methamphetamine, cocaine and oxy pills were recovered.
Cruz was arrested on Monday afternoon at approximately 3:15 p.m., a few blocks from 150-28 Raleigh St., inside a vehicle on Centreville Street. Lao was taken into custody in front of 150-28 Raleigh St. that evening at approximately 8 p.m. as agents and officers prepared to conduct the court-authorized search of Apartment 2.
Inside the residence, agents and officers recovered two pill presses, including a manual pill press and a large automatic/mechanical pill press, from the living room. A third pill press of the automatic type was found inside a bedroom. Automatic pill presses can produce thousands of pills in a short amount of time, while manual pill presses create individual pills. Agents and officers seized a variety of molds used to press different-shaped pills, including those used to manufacture counterfeit oxycodone pills.
The kitchen and the living room areas contained a variety of pills in different shapes and colors, including those resembling oxycodone. The kitchen also allegedly contained large quantities of powdered narcotics believed to be fentanyl and cocaine, and a large amount of crystal methamphetamine, according to field tests performed on the substances at the location. Pill presses and narcotics were found in plain view in the apartment’s common areas, and various forms of official identification were recovered from the residence.
Ehrlich was arrested at approximately 5 p.m. on Monday in the vicinity of a self-storage unit at 103 39 98th St., Unit 3177. At approximately 7:52 p.m., a search of the storage unit resulted in the seizure of a large amount of marijuana and approximately four kilograms of psilocybin mushrooms. Erlich is charged in connection with the seized psilocybin mushrooms in addition to the drugs found in the Raleigh Street residence.
“Illegal drugs and unregulated narcotics wreak havoc on our communities, destroying lives and shattering families,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “The allegations in this case are particularly egregious as three individuals are accused of operating a pill mill with fentanyl, cocaine and other dangerous substances recovered right across the street from a school. This kind of reckless, criminal activity places our children and entire neighborhoods at risk.”
All three defendants are charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and second degrees. Ehrlich faces an additional charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
“This operation allegedly used industrial-grade pill presses to manufacture and distribute lethal narcotics from a residence directly across the street from a public school – a reckless and dangerous enterprise that put lives at risk,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “The seizure of fentanyl and other deadly drugs, along with large-scale pill-manufacturing equipment, underscores the sophistication of this network and the urgency of taking it down.”
Cruz was arraigned on Jan. 7 and bail was set at $100,000 cash/$100,000 bond. Lao and Erlich were arraigned Tuesday night, and bail was set at $100,000 cash/$300,000 bond for each. The defendants each face up to 8 to 20 years in prison, if convicted, according to a law enforcement source.
