By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Tuesday the indictment of nine individuals—including a South Richmond Hill resident and another who lives in Woodhaven—that have been charged with selling and possessing controlled substances following a 17-month-long investigation into a drug-peddling operation centered on 95th Street in Jackson Heights. Undercover investigators made 40 buys of cocaine, crack and fentanyl with a street value of more than $12,000, according to the indictment.
Kalexis Rosario, 32, lives in South Richmond Hill; Angelo Fernandez, 29, resides in Woodhaven. Rosario, Fernandez, Rodolfo Lopez, Luis Rodriguez, Hamza Aurandzeb, Justin Moncayo, and Dorian Romero were arraigned on a 142-count indictment charging them with criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance. One defendant was additionally charged with use of a child to commit a controlled substance offense.
Lopez, 28, and Fernandez were apprehended on April 1; Rosario was apprehended on April 8; Aurandzeb, 26, Moncayo, 25, and Romero, 22, were apprehended on April 9; and Rodriguez, 36, on April 11 by Queens North Narcotics.
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Part of the haul was 88.5 grams of the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Two defendants remain at large, Katz noted.
According to the indictment and investigation, in August 2023 the Queens District Attorney’s Office along with the NYPD’s Queens North Narcotics Bureau began an investigation into drug dealing along a residential block of 95th Street in Jackson Heights.
Undercover officers conducted 40 controlled buys of fentanyl, cocaine and crack between Aug. 3, 2023, and Dec. 18, 2024. Most of the purchases took place on 95th Street between 35th and 37th Avenues in Jackson Heights and many were done openly on the street.
In one instance, Lopez allegedly told an undercover officer making a fentanyl buy to hand $500 to a child, who appeared to be approximately 8 years old. The cop was instructed to retrieve the fentanyl he just purchased from Lopez from a bag placed on the mirror of a nearby parked car.
In another instance, Lopez allegedly left a plastic bag of narcotics on the windshield of a truck for the undercover officer to pick up.
In total, officers purchased 88.5 grams of fentanyl, 85.9 grams of cocaine and 4.5 grams of crack. The street value of the drugs totaled $12,905.
