Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), and Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), announced that JOSE LUIS TEJADA AYBAR (“TEJADA”) and ALLEN ALEXIS ABISADA GUZMAN (“ABISADA”) were charged in criminal complaints unsealed in Manhattan federal court with narcotics conspiracy resulting in the deaths of Marsha Clarke of the Bronx, New York, and Martin Banks and Edward Lynch of Yonkers, New York. TEJADA was arrested this morning and will be presented later today before United States Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang in Manhattan. ABISADA was arrested today and will be presented tomorrow before United States Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman in Miami.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, the defendants operated an on-demand delivery service for the distribution of highly addictive and dangerous drugs. The cocaine distributed by the defendants’ service was laced with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, and as alleged, caused the deaths of three victims. Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, the defendants’ delivery service is no longer in business.”
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said: “Every overdose in New York City is traced back to its source by the NYPD and its enforcement partners, to prevent the senseless kinds of deaths the victims in this case suffered. I commend our investigators and the prosecutors in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District in New York for tirelessly fighting this scourge with every tool at our disposal.”
DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said: “Today’s arrests illuminate the dangers associated with fentanyl-tainted street drugs. Tejada’s alleged drug delivery service put lethal doses of drugs into three New Yorker’s hand, causing their overdose. Too many lives have been lost to fentanyl-related overdoses and I applaud the NYPD, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DEA Homestead Resident Office, and members of the New York Strike Force for their diligent efforts in this investigation.”
As alleged in the Complaints[1]:
From at least January 2018 to at least in or about February 2020, TEJADA and ABISADA operated a narcotics delivery service (the “Cab Louie Delivery Service”) in the New York City area. On or about September 19, 2019, ABISADA, working for the Cab Louie Delivery Service, delivered cocaine to Clarke, Banks, and Lynch. Within two days, the cocaine delivered by the Cab Louie Delivery Service, which was tainted with fentanyl, caused the overdose deaths of Clarke, Banks, and Lynch, as well as the hospitalization of Clarke’s husband.
Soon thereafter, TEJADA saved on his phone a news article reporting the overdose deaths of Banks and Lynch. TEJADA nevertheless continued to operate the Cab Louie Delivery Service. From in or about October 2019 to in or about February 2020, TEJADA and ABISADA, operating through the Cab Louie Delivery Service, repeatedly sold cocaine to an NYPD undercover officer.
JOSE LUIS TEJADA AYBAR, 39, of Yonkers, New York, and ALLEN ALEXIS ABISADA GUZMAN, 40, of the Bronx, New York, are each charged with narcotics conspiracy resulting in death, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The minimum and maximum potential sentences described above are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the assigned judge.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the NYPD Detective Borough Bronx Violent Crimes Squad and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) New York Strike Force. The OCDETF New York Strike Force is a crime-fighting unit comprising federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The Strike Force is affiliated with the DEA’s New York Division and includes agents and officers of the DEA, New York City Police Department, New York State Police, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service, New York National Guard, Clarkstown Police Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Port Washington Police Department, and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Ms. Strauss also thanked the Yonkers Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance in the case, and thanked the DEA’s Miami Field Division for its assistance in the apprehension of ABISADA.
The charges in the Complaints are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the texts of the Complaints, and the descriptions of the Complaints set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described herein should be treated as an allegation as to the defendants charged in the Complaints.
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