{"id":1018492,"date":"2024-03-31T15:25:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-31T22:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/?p=1018492"},"modified":"2026-08-28T15:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:18:28","slug":"ex-nypd-drug-dealing-cop-who-allegedly-sold-fentanyl-on-duty-indicted-on-drug-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/2024\/03\/31\/%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%b7%d9%8a-%d9%85%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%b1-%d9%85%d8%ae%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%8a%d9%8f%d8%af%d8%b9%d9%89-%d8%a3%d9%86%d9%87-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b9-%d9%81%d9%86%d8%aa%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NYPD Officer Who Sold Fentanyl and Heroin on Duty Gets Five Years in Federal Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former NYPD officer who sold heroin and fentanyl while still wearing the badge has been sentenced to federal prison, closing out a case that began with her October 2023 arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Grace Rosa Baez, 38, of the Bronx, and Cesar Martinez, of Yonkers, were charged in Manhattan federal court after a federal narcotics sting. Both initially pleaded not guilty, but Baez later admitted her role, pleading guilty to a drug-distribution conspiracy. The case was announced by Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams and investigated by the FBI and the NYPD itself.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1019030\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1019030\" style=\"width: 1536px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1019030\" src=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ex-NYPD-drug-dealing-cop-who-allegedly-sold-fentanyl-on-duty-indicted-on-drug-charges-1.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in an NYPD uniform takes a selfie in a mirror, holding a black phone. She appears to be an officer involved in a Manhattan case, possibly related to the NYPD indictment and drug charges.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1519\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1019030\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Court documents reveal that Baez has been formally charged with participating in a narcotics conspiracy and trafficking drugs. Instagram @graciela_rose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>According to court filings, Baez joined the NYPD in 2012 but had been placed on modified desk duty in 2020 while under a departmental misconduct investigation. On three occasions in October 2023, while still on duty at an NYPD facility, she sold packages to a confidential source working with law enforcement \u2014 in total more than one kilogram of heroin, over 400 grams of fentanyl, and over 100 grams of a fentanyl analogue (para-fluorofentanyl). Prosecutors said she handed the source a sample of what she called &#8220;top quality&#8221; fentanyl tucked inside a Mentos candy container, negotiated prices and quantities, and at one point offered to sell two kilograms of fentanyl for $30,000 per kilogram and a kilogram of heroin for $25,000.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1019029\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1019029\" style=\"width: 1536px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1019029\" src=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ex-NYPD-drug-dealing-cop-who-allegedly-sold-fentanyl-on-duty-indicted-on-drug-charges-2.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling woman with blonde hair, wearing a red dress and silver heels, stands in a dimly lit bar. She poses with one hand on her hip, the background showing a glimpse of other people and a small table. This image may be related to the NYPD indictment case and drug charges.\" width=\"1536\" height=\"1527\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1019029\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Following a suspension without salary, Baez decided to resign from the NYPD due to her arrest in a drug sting operation conducted by federal authorities. @graciela_rose<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Baez and Martinez, who were romantically involved and shared the Yonkers apartment where several of the deals took place, were arrested on October 19, 2023. As agents moved in, a package of suspected narcotics was thrown from the apartment; inside, investigators recovered more suspected drugs and a &#8220;kilogram press machine&#8221; used to compress powder into bricks. Baez resigned from the NYPD upon her arrest. She was later released on a $100,000 bond with home detention, while Martinez was held in custody.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center\"><\/div>\n<h2>Guilty Plea and Sentencing<\/h2>\n<p>On April 16, 2024, Baez pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and para-fluorofentanyl \u2014 a charge carrying a maximum of 20 years. Her plea deal took an otherwise-applicable 10-year mandatory minimum off the table, with the parties contemplating a sentence in the range of roughly 57 to 71 months. &#8220;Rather than protect and serve the people of New York City, former NYPD officer Grace Rosa Baez peddled deadly poison for personal gain,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;Today, Baez is held accountable for her selfish and reckless betrayal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>At her July 18, 2024 sentencing, prosecutors pushed for 71 months. Baez&#8217;s defense focused heavily on domestic violence, telling the court she had endured abuse during the relationship \u2014 she said she sometimes came to work with a bruised face, calling it &#8220;insane&#8221; \u2014 and asked the judge for home confinement rather than prison. Judge Cote accepted as fact that Baez had been abused, but pointed out that the badge &#8220;was abused too,&#8221; and sentenced her to 60 months \u2014 five years \u2014 in federal prison, set to begin on September 6, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The case stands as a stark example within The AEGIS Alliance&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/category\/news\/police-accountability-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Police Accountability<\/a> coverage of an officer prosecuted for the very kind of drug trade police are sworn to fight. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dea.gov\/factsheets\/fentanyl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fentanyl<\/a>, often mixed into or sold as heroin, remains a central driver of the U.S. overdose crisis, which is part of why federal prosecutors treated an officer dealing it with particular severity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-NYPD officer Grace Rosa Baez sold heroin and fentanyl while on duty. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in federal prison in July 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1019028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,209225,24],"tags":[67,205590,208239,206762,190838,66,205548],"class_list":["post-1018492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-police-accountability-news","category-us-news","tag-drugs","tag-fentanyl","tag-indictment","tag-metro","tag-nypd","tag-police","tag-us-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ex-NYPD-drug-dealing-cop-who-allegedly-sold-fentanyl-on-duty-indicted-on-drug-charges-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018492"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1199002,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018492\/revisions\/1199002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1019028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}