Nine arrested in Rockland cocaine ring: DA

Nine people have been arrested in a Nyack-based cocaine ring that sold the drug in bars throughout Rockland County, officials said.

The operation involved cocaine sales in restaurants in Clarkstown, Haverstraw and Orangetown, the Rockland County District Attorney's Office said in a press release Monday. The crew had more than 150 cocaine customers in the county, officials said.

Rockland residents Ronald Babcock, Gladimir Boursiquot, Jenna Cippoletti, Stanley Juin, Kevin Michel, Jenna Pipolo, Matthew Sobieraj and Joseph Sweeney face charges, as well as New Jersey resident Paige Willock, officials said. The DA's Office did not say when the arrests were made.

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The investigation, which included Orangetown police, began in July 2017 when the DA's Drug Task Force learned that a close-knit cocaine trafficking network was selling the drug from bars and restaurants in Nyack and Pearl River, officials said. Juin, a 32-year-old Nyack resident, was identified as the ringleader who oversaw suppliers, resellers and customers, officials said.

Boursiquot, a 32-year-old West Haverstraw resident, is accused of supplying Juin with the cocaine. Boursiquot mainly sold cocaine at bars and restaurants in Pearl River, officials said.

Cippoletti, a 29-year-old Nyack resident, and Willock, a 27-year-old resident of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, worked at bars and restaurants in Nyack and were two of Juin's resellers, officials said. Juin would meet the two women at the Nyack establishments where they worked, and give them cocaine, which Cippoletti and Willock would resell, officials said.

Officials said Boursiquot's resellers included Michel, a 28-year-old Spring Valley resident; Babcock, a 47-year-old Suffern resident; Sweeney, a 28-year-old Nanuet resident; Sobieraj, a 32-year-old New City resident; and Pipolo, a 28-year-old Pearl River resident.

Pipolo is accused of selling cocaine at Pearl River bars, while officials said Sobieraj and Sweeney operated in Clarkstown, Babcock in Ramapo and Michel in Spring Valley.

Boursiquot, Babcock and Sobieraj were charged with fourth-degree conspiracy, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, all felonies.

Juin, Michel, Pipolo, Cippoletti, Willock and Sweeney were charged with fourth-degree conspiracy.

Twitter: @MattSpillane