Supplier of cocaine to Schenectady sentenced

PHOTOGRAPHER: Justin Mason

Jamar Green’s job was to buy large amounts of cocaine in the New York City area and then flip it to a drug transporter, who would zip it up the Thruway to Schenectady.

Over the course of an eight-month federal investigation, authorities determined the New Jersey man was flipping crack and powder cocaine to Jaime Lee Toomer for redistribution in the Schenectady area. Green, 37, of Fort Lee, was arrested in April and cited in a 29-count indictment alleging charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine.

Green was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to the charge earlier this year in U.S. District Court. He became the third person sentenced in the massive sting conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York State Police, the Schenectady Police Department and Schenectady County District Attorney’s office.

Between August 2009 and March 2010, Green is accused of acquiring more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more than 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine. Federal authorities raided Jamie Toomer’s Kings Road apartment in Schenectady in March 2010, seizing 750 grams of crack cocaine and 220 grams of powder cocaine.

The investigation also led to the seizure of 18 long guns and four handguns from a Bradley Street address. When the indictment was handed up against Green, U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian called it an “opening salvo in our joint campaign against violent crime in the city of Schenectady.”

In a pre-sentencing memorandum last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrance Kelly argued 20 years in prison would be a “sufficient, but not greater than necessary” punishment for Green. He indicated Green had two prior drug convictions and had served time in state prison.

But Edward Wilford, Green’s defense attorney, argued for a more lenient sentence of up to 14 years, including a drug rehabilitation component. He said Green’s upbringing in Harlem exposed him to drug dealing and substance abuse at a very young age.

“Drug dealing presented an attractive option to Mr. Green and thousands of other young men in the community as a vehicle to escape the abject poverty surrounding them,” he wrote in a pre-sentencing memorandum objecting to the mandatory minimum sentence.

Co-defendants Victor Toomer, Jamie Lee Toomer, Trinelle Frye, Jeffrey McGough Sr., Koshon Taylor and Alexis Bass, all of Schenectady, previously pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge. Frye was ordered to serve 10 years in federal prison Aug. 4, while Jamie Lee Toomer was handed a 20-year sentence on Aug 18.

Charges remain pending for nine suspects in the case. In a related development, Jeffrey McGough Jr., the only one of the 16 who remained at large, was apprehended by authorities in Pennsylvania and appeared in U.S. District Court of Northern New York on Wednesday.

Taylor is the next member of the ring scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 20. McGough Sr. is expected to be sentenced on Nov. 3, while Victor Toomer is slated to be sentenced on Dec. 7.