NEW YORK
A New York City police officer plead guilty in federal court to conspiring to distribute Oxycodone in Vermont, according to officials this week.
Andre Clarke, age 37, of the Bronx, New York, plead guilty on May 2, 2016 before the Honorable William K. Sessions, III, to conspiring to distribute Oxycodone in Vermont from 2011 through June 2014.
The judge sent sentencing on Aug. 29. Judge Sessions allowed him to remain free until his sentencing.
On July 7, 2015, a federal grand jury sitting in Burlington handed down a multi-count Indictment, which charges Clarke, Michael Foreste, and Dannis Hackney with the Vermont Oxycodone conspiracy.
Foreste and Hackney are charged with additional drug trafficking and money laundering offenses. Both men have entered pleas of not guilty and are awaiting trial.
According to prosecutors, Clarke, who lived in the Bronx and Long Island, supplied oxycodone to Michael Foreste, of Valley Stream, New York. Foreste, who, in turn, supplied the pills to Dannis Hackney, of Burlington, Vermont. Hackney sold them to Burlington addicts, officials said.
Foreste personally brought Hackney pills, and sometimes sent them via U.S. Mail. Clarke, Foreste, and Hackney transferred drug cash using various bank accounts, officials said.
Foreste and Hackney are also each charged with two counts of money laundering based on this banking activity. Foreste and Hackney have been in custody since their arrests in June 2014 and are awaiting trial.
Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison in the event of conviction on the oxycodone charge. The money laundering counts also carry a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars, according to federal prosecutors.