Three Guyanese, including a well-known city barber, were recently arrested in New York following a Drug Enforce-ment Administration (DEA) sting which had its genesis in a three-month surveillance after a cooperating witness (CW) was arrested with cocaine.
The men, Ronel Hernandez called ‘Buck’, who is a popular barber, David Norton called ‘Roger’ and Ulrich Gavin Anderson called ‘Dred’ were all arrested on September 14. They were caught attempting to sell cocaine in a Brooklyn parking lot and now face the charge of knowingly and intentionally conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
DEA agent Victoria Delollo in court documents seen by this newspaper said that in spring of this year the CW said that a Guyanese named ‘Roger’ had supplied him with kilogramme quantities of cocaine in the recent past.
The CW also told law enforcement agents that on several occasions when they had purchased cocaine from ‘Roger’ another individual known as ‘Dred’ had supplied ‘Roger’ with the cocaine that was sold to him.
From April last the DEA agents surveilled a meeting between the CW and ‘Roger’ during which the CW inquired as to whether ‘Roger’ had any cocaine available for sale and during the recorded conversation ‘Roger’ stated that he had no drugs available at the time.
But on September 9, the CW placed another consensually-recorded telephone call to ‘Roger’ and requested one kilogramme of cocaine from him and during that call ‘Roger’ told the CW that he would call his supplier to determine if that quantity of drugs was available for sale.
The DEA agent said on September 13, ‘Roger’ called the CW and stated that he had two kilogrammes of cocaine available for sale at US$32,000 per kilo. After discussing the price further, the CW agreed to purchase one kilo of cocaine on the following day.
On September 14, the CW placed another call, which was being recorded, to ‘Roger’ and indicated he wanted to transact the narcotics deal and the two agreed to meet in Brooklyn, New York, later that day. Prior to the meeting the CW was provided with a recording device and around 5 pm the CW met ‘Roger’ in a parking lot and he was accompanied by an individual called ‘Buck’. The CW told agents that ‘Buck’ was an individual who had been present at several of the past narcotics deals involving ‘Roger’.
After the CW arrived, ‘Roger’ instructed him to go to a different location to complete the transaction and soon after arriving at the new location Anderson arrived in a separate vehicle. ‘Buck’ was allegedly seen going to Anderson’s vehicle and he opened the trunk and removed a black nylon bag which he took to the CW’s vehicle. ‘Buck’ then opened the bag and took out a scale and a Ziploc bag containing cocaine and weighed the cocaine.
“At that time, the CW exited the vehicle and Roger, Buck and defendant, Ulrich Gavin Anderson, were placed under arrest,” the DEA agent said.
Following their arrests, ‘Roger’, identified himself to agents as David Norton and ‘Buck’ as Ronel Hernandez. Norton told the agents after he waived his Miranda rights that he had supplied the CW with cocaine on approximately seven occasions in the past. He further stated, among other things, that his role during those transactions was to act as a middleman between Anderson, who supplied the cocaine, and the CW.
Hernandez, according to the court documents, also waived his rights and told the agents that prior to the narcotics deal, Anderson agreed to pay him US$1,000 to physically transport the drugs from his vehicle to the CW.
All three men were then charged and are now in custody and are expected to make another court appearance today.
