Press Release

NYPD OFFICER CAUGHT SELLING STEROIDS IN UNDERCOVER STING; DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH CRIMINAL SALE OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, joined by New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, announced today that Maurice Lemelin, 33, who is an officer with the New York City Police Department, has been charged with possessing and sale of a controlled substance. On two occasions, the defendant allegedly sold anabolic steroids to an undercover detective in both October and November of this year.

District Attorney Katz said, “Alleged to have been selling steroids from the parking lot of a gym in Queens, this defendant has not only broken the law but smeared the integrity of his badge. With almost two years of service at the NYPD and still a probationary officer, this defendant now faces very serious charges.”

Police Commissioner Shea said, “There is no place in the New York City Police Department for criminal or unethical behavior. Our officers swear an oath to uphold the law and protect the public and should they fail in this sacred mission, they must be held accountable.”

Lemelin, of Queens, who worked out of the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn, was arraigned this morning before Queens Criminal Court Judge Scott Dunn on a complaint charging him with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth and seventh degree and two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. Judge Dunn ordered the defendant to return to Court on January 27, 2022. If convicted, Lemelin faces up to 7 years in prison.

According to the charges, on October 8, 2021, the defendant and an unapprehended other were on the grounds of the Coliseum Gym at 98-25 Jamaica Boulevard. An undercover investigator met with the unapprehended other, who approached Lemelin as he sat inside a black Porsche sports utility vehicle in the rear parking lot of the gym. The defendant allegedly handed the man a blue plastic bag filled with a vial of testosterone, Anavar, and Arimedex pills, which are anabolic steroids. The go-between then handed over the plastic bag of narcotics in exchange for $630 in cash from the undercover officer.

The DA continued, on November 2, 2021, the defendant again set up shop in the back parking lot of the Coliseum Gym in Woodhaven, Queens. This time, the undercover was inside the gym and the unapprehended other instructed the “buyer” to meet him at the entrance and the two walked outside to the waiting black Porsche SUV. This time defendant Lemelin allegedly sold him a clear blue plastic bag containing four vials of testosterone cypionate, Anavar, Arimidex and other loose pills. The undercover paid $2,200 for the steroids.

The investigation was conducted by the New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, Group 32, under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Joseph J. Reznick.

Assistant District Attorney Yvonne Francis, a Supervisor in the DA’s Public Corruption Bureau, is prosecuting the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys James Liander, Bureau Chief, and Khadijah Muhammad-Starling, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard A. Brave.

**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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