THE BRONX, NEW YORK CITY: Grace Rose Baez, a female NYPD officer who prided herself on the love she had for the job, was caught allegedly dealing large quantities of narcotics while on duty this week, federal officials said in a press release.
US Attorney of the Southern District of New York Damian Williams revealed that Baez was arrested alongside Cesar Martinez, and charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and distribution of narcotics.
According to officials, Baez, 37, and Martinez, 42, allegedly tried selling narcotics to a federal informant between October 9 to 19.
Baez gave the informant a sample of what she described to be “top quality” fentanyl in a Mentos candy container on Tuesday.
She disclosed thereafter to the informant that she could sell them a kilo of heroin for $25,000, and 800 grams of fentanyl with its price to be negotiated later depending on the drug’s purity.
Officials also said that Baez, who’s worked in the NYPD since 2012, allegedly had several meetings with the informant.
She was assigned desk duty at an NYPD facility all the while she was arranging meetings and negotiating prices to sell “kilogram quantities of narcotics,” the feds claimed, the New York Post reported.
How did NYPD cop Grace Rosa Baez get caught?
On Thursday, October 19, Baez met with the criminal informant in Yonkers and handed over packages containing suspected narcotics, including a kilogram and 400 grams of heroin, and 640 grams of fentanyl labeled 640 Manzana.
She was arrested the same day.
Having arrested Baez, the officers went to the Yonkers home she’d shared with Martinez and found a package of suspected narcotics being thrown out of the apartment.
Inside the apartment, officials found a kilogram press machine, as well as additional narcotics that Martinez had allegedly tried throwing outside, authorities stated.
Baez, who was handed an immediate suspension without pay after her arrest, along with her partner in crime Martinez, looks down the barrel at the possibility of dozens of years in prison.
Grace Rosa Baez 'loved' her job
Baez’s Instagram post from 2020 resurfaced after her arrest where she wrote about being a cop.
“I will never apologize for picking a career I love to do,” she wrote.
“There’s always a bad one or two in the bunch, but that’s not me…,” the suspended NYPD cop added.
Baez made $96,715 in 2022, less than what she used to make earlier, owing to her working less overtime on desk duty.
The NYPD had previously put Baez on modified duty in 2020 on charges of misconduct.
Damian Williams stated that Baez had “flagrantly violated” her oath of office “by pushing poison, including fentanyl and heroin, which are driving the nation’s deadly opioid crisis and have been responsible for thousands of tragic deaths in this city and around the nation.”
New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban claimed that if guilty, Baez had “tarnished the shield that she wore.”
"These charges are extremely troubling because there is no place for corruption at the NYPD,” he added.
