APRIL 21, 2000

BELLE HARBOR WOMAN AND FIVE OTHERS ARRESTED FOR POSSESSING COCAINE AND MARIJUANA IN HER HOME

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the arrest of six people for possessing cocaine and marijuana with intent to sell it in a Belle Harbor home at 128 Beach 127th Street.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendants, Theresa Meyers, 50, Keith Pryde, 21, Kevin Pryde, 22, Joseph Colangelo 41, Jean Fitch 40, all of 128 Beach 127th Street and Elizabeth Ott, 37, of 723 Walton Road, Broad Channel, New York, are charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell it. They face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

According to the criminal complaint, the defendants possessed more than 40 bags of cocaine, more than 30 bags of marijuana, and ecstasy tablets, as well as scales and pipes in their home. Meyers, who claimed in court papers to be employed by the New York City Board of Education, has lived at the Beach 127th Street address for more than 7 years.

District Attorney Brown said, "People of the Belle Harbor community have complained that the activities in and around 128 Beach 127th Street are very disturbing to them. We hope that the arrests last night and the subsequent prosecutions will persuade people who sell drugs that there is no such thing as a safe house for drug storage and sales and thus bring a measure of relief to the neighborhood."

The investigation was conducted by Police Officers Christopher Conversano and Ed Figurski, Detectives Gerald Logan, Sandy Nelson, Patrick O'Brian, and John McPartland under the supervision of Lt. John O'Mahoney and Captain Joseph Cordes of the New York Police Department's Queens South Narcotics District.

Assistant District Attorney John H. Lee of District Attorney Brown's Narcotics Investigations Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Wilbert J. LeMelle, will prosecute the case.

It is to be noted that a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.