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Bayport residents Joseph Sweeney, Jasmine Tabak, and Kevin “Tex” Turner” were charged in Manhattan federal court after being busted by undercover officers manufacturing and selling methamphetamine.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said that beginning last year, Sweeney, Tabak, and Turner conspired to distribute meth on Long Island, some of which was obtained in Manhattan.
It is alleged that during controlled purchases, undercover officers seized approximately one and a half kilograms of meth from the trio, while multiple recorded conversations with the officer and a cooperating witness confirmed that Sweeney had said on different occasions that Turner manufactured the drug at his Bayport home.
Sweeney was first arrested in Suffolk County on Nov. 23 last year when he was caught in a hand-to-hand drug sale. At the time of his arrest, officers seized meth and a .38 caliber revolver.
Additionally, on Monday, Jan. 18, in connection with another undercover meth purchase, Turner told an undercover officer that Sweeney pointed a 9mm gun at Turner’s head because Sweeney suspected that the undercover was a law enforcement officer.
“A highly addictive and dangerous stimulant, methamphetamine cannot be trafficked in our communities,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said. “This trio allegedly spent months distributing poison into the hands of the addicted, furthering the damaging impacts of narcotics in countless families’ lives.”
Sweeney, 39, Tabak, 34, and Turner, 43, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute, or possess with intent to distribute, methamphetamines. If convicted, they face a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison. Sweeney was also charged with possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense.
“As this case demonstrates, illegal narcotics continue to plague our communities. As alleged, Sweeney, Tabak, and Turner conspired to distribute methamphetamines, and Sweeney brandished a firearm in furtherance of his crimes,” FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said in a statement.
“Our action today should demonstrate the FBI’s Long Island Safe Streets Task Force, working together with our partners from the Suffolk County Police Department, remains committed to protecting the public from those who would seek to perpetuate the damage caused by the distribution of illegal narcotics.”
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