Antonio Planas is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
A former officer with New York City police department was arrested Thursday and charged with selling fentanyl and heroin while federal prosecutors also accused her of negotiating drug deals on the job.
Grace Rosa Baez, 37, of the Bronx, who had been employed with the NYPD since 2012, is charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl and three counts of narcotics distribution, according to a Friday statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Baez has resigned from her job as an officer, a spokesperson with the NYPD said Sunday. Cesar Martinez, 43 of Yonkers, who shared an apartment with the former officer, also faces identical charges as Baez, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors alleged that between Oct. 9 and Thursday, Baez and Martinez had multiple conversations with a confidential source who was working with law enforcement about obtaining drugs for the confidential source for negotiated prices, prosecutors said. “BAEZ and MARTINEZ offered to sell … kilogram quantities of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine,” prosecutors said. For example, prosecutors said, that on Oct. 11, Baez told the confidential source she could sell two kilograms of fentanyl for $30,000 per kilogram along with an additional 400 grams of heroin for which a price would be negotiated later, prosecutors said. On Monday, prosecutors said, Baez met with the confidential source in Yonkers and handed the source a plastic candy container and said the fentanyl was inside. That substance was later determined to be heroin after testing, prosecutors said. After Baez’s arrest Thursday, law enforcement were at the apartment she shared with Martinez and saw “a package of suspected narcotics being thrown from inside the apartment to outside the apartment,” prosecutors said. “Inside the apartment, law enforcement discovered a kilogram press machine, as well as additional suspected narcotics that MARTINEZ had apparently attempted to throw outside.” Baez negotiated drug deals while on duty, prosecutors said. These instances include on Oct. 11, when she spoke with the confidential source about where to meet to discuss drug sales; On Oct. 13, she negotiated the price and quality of fentanyl and arranged to deliver a sample of fentanyl to the confidential source, and on Wednesday, she discussed a final delivery with the confidential source. Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in the statement: “Grace Rosa Baez took an oath to protect and serve the people of New York City. As alleged, she flagrantly violated that oath by pushing poison, including fentanyl and heroin, which are driving the nation’s deadly opioid crisis and have been responsible for thousands of tragic deaths in the city and around the nation.” Following accusations of misconduct in 2020, the NYPD began to investigate Baez who was placed on modified duty, prosecutors said. Earlier this month, prior to her resignation, she was assigned to modified desk duty, prosecutors said.
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