A former Hempstead police officer from Mineola pleaded guilty last Friday to charges of selling opiate-base prescription drugs.
Brian Jones, 39, of Mineola, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s office .
Jones sold oxycodone pills, a prescription painkiller, to a confidential informant on May 2, 2011 as part of a what the county DA’s office described as a long-term investigation. Investigators found more than a half ounce of oxycodone in Jones’s vehicle at the time of his arrest on July 19, 2011, the DA’s office said.
Jones, who was suspended without pay on an unrelated matter at the time of his arrest, was terminated from the police department in September 2011.
Judge John Kase committed Jones to an Upstate prison sentence of two-and-a-half years in exchange for the guilty plea. Jones is scheduled to be sentenced on October 3.
“This defendant chose to disgrace his uniform rather than honor what it stands for,” Rice said. “Instead of protecting and serving, this police officer made our neighborhoods more dangerous. My office will continue to aggressively investigate public corruption in all of its forms, and hold accountable those who attempt to abuse their position for profit.”
