January 25, 1999

SOUTH JAMAICA HOUSES RESIDENT CONVICTED FOR POSSESSION OF 333 CRACK VIALS AND FOUR OUNCES OF LOOSE ROCK COCAINE WITH ESTIMATED STREET VALUE OF MORE THAN $15,000

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the conviction of a South Jamaica Houses resident for the possession of 333 vials of crack and four ounces of loose rock cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $15,000.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Clarence Scott, 49, of 177-17 106th Avenue, Jamaica, who was convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and intent to sell after a two week jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Dunlop. The defendant will be sentenced on February 16 and faces up to life in prison.

According to trial testimony, three police officers while on routine patrol, heard gun shots in the South Jamaica Houses shortly after midnight on January 1, 1998. While investigating, they saw the defendant standing outside one of the buildings in the complex. As they began to ask him if he knew anything about the gun shots, the defendant fled, dropping a bag behind him that was later discovered to contain the illegal contraband of 333 vials of crack and four ounces of loose rock cocaine. The police pursued him on foot and arrested him.

Assistant District Attorney Heather Palmore of the Queens District Attorney's Kew Gardens III Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Robert J. Masters, prosecuted the case.