Views an aye ( & pill) popper
Drug-lab bust in waterfront pad
They put the “high” in highrise.
A luxury waterfront apartment with sweeping Manhattan-skyline views was turned into the city’s most unlikely drug den, authorities said Tuesday.
Agents from the DEA’s Newark Field Division and New York State Police raided the swanky rental pad on Center Place in Long Island City, Queens, during the predawn hours to break up the synthetic-drug lab.
“I see all of them, but this one was super clean,” a DEA agent said of the lab, noting “no garbage anywhere and had the best view — a gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline.”
The agent added: “I’ve never seen a drug lab like this. Usually you are up to your knee in garbage . . . not this one.”
Law-enforcement officials recovered “dangerous designer drugs” — including a synthetic opioid called “U-47700,” also known as “Pink Drug,” which is several times more potent than morphine — from the fourthfloor apartment of Brian Parker, 34.
Other controlled substances recovered were drugs with hallucinogenic properties called “A-PHP” and “3-MEO-PCP.”
Parker was arrested at the scene and Victoria Koleski, 29 of Farmingdale, NJ, was busted elsewhere on charges of conspiring to distribute controlled-substance analogues and distributing and possessing with intent to distribute the controlled substances, Acting Newark US Attorney William Fitzpatrick said.
Parker, who has two prior convictions for federal narcotics-related crimes, allegedly distributed the drugs and other illegal chemicals through online companies called Unbeatable-chems and RC Powders, according to a criminal complaint.
The drugs Parker sold were linked to the May 22, 2016, overdose death of a 37-year-old man in Madison, Wis., officials said.
The unidentified man’s death was caused by “acute intoxica- tion” due to the combined effects of U-47700 and benzodiazepine, according to officials.
From June 30 to July 5, Koleski shipped about 218 drug-filled parcels from a Farmingdale post office, officials said.
Parker faces up to 60 years in prison and Koleski faces up to 40 years if convicted on all counts.
At their court appearance Tuesday in Newark federal court — in which they were both remanded — Koleski wore a Green Lantern graphic T-shirt and wept at times.
In the Long Island City building where the drug lab was run, studios rent for up to $2,730 a month and one-bedroom apartments go for up to $3,575, according to management com- pany TF Cornerstone.
“According to officials, these activities were confined to one apartment and do not pose a threat to residents or the general public in the vicinity of the building,” a spokesperson for TF Cornerstone said.