New York Daily News

Cops muscle in on ‘Hulk’ & Co.

- Graham Rayman

AN AUXILIARY COP and a bodybuilde­r who calls himself the Dominican Hulk were busted with four others in a drug and gun sting, authoritie­s said Wednesday.

The felonious sextet was undone by a crafty undercover officer, who convinced them to sell him $30,000 in cocaine, heroin and the steroids in 19 transactio­ns.

Auxiliary cop Ramon Espinal, 32, who is assigned to the 23rd Precinct in East Harlem, was tied up in the sale of an illegal gun, according to Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.

A predawn raid by police Wednesday yielded 41/2 pounds of cocaine, worth $60,000, and more steroids.

The case stemmed from a year-long wiretap investigat­ion by the NYPD’s Criminal Enterprise Investigat­ion Unit and the Vice Squad.

The undercover officer first bought steroids from Jimmy Liu, 42, authoritie­s said. Liu subsequent­ly sold cocaine, heroin and Xanax to the cop. The wiretap revealed that Liu allegedly got his drugs from two other men, Jerry Jagernauth, 46, and body builder Jose Rodriguez, 46.

Rodriguez (photo inset) has posted inspiratio­nal YouTube videos of himself shoulder pressing 315 pounds, under the name Dominican Hulk.

In one of the clips, he describes himself as a “master powerlifte­r.”

“This (powerlifti­ng) saved my life,” he said in footage from 2015. “I would like to be a role model, a role model to kids. At the end of the day, you want to leave a legacy. That’s why I’m trying to do.”

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