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Metro

Man busted after millions of dollars in drugs seized from NYC ‘pill mill’

By
Amanda Woods
Published June 2, 2023
Updated June 2, 2023, 2:24 p.m. ET

A 52-year-old man could face up to life behind bars for his role in running a “pill mill” out of an Upper Manhattan basement — where millions of dollars worth of drugs and manufacturing equipment were seized this week, federal officials said. 

Juan Efren Paulino was busted Wednesday night at the Washington Heights building where he and others had stashed about 200,000 pills — in addition to blocks, baggies, and buckets of powder; three commercial-grade pill presses; and one commercial mixer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement. 

The powders have tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine, according to preliminary spectrometry tests.

Lab testing is still pending for the pills and powders. 

After he was arrested, Paulino — also known as Freddy — claimed he was in the basement to obtain a sample of cocaine to give to someone, the feds said. 

Paulino was charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and distribution of narcotics, officials said. 

The stash of drugs discovered in the Washington Heights basement.
Juan Efren Paulino was arrested when investigators discovered the stash of drugs in the Washington Heights basement, officials said. U.S. Attorney's Office SDNY
Drug manufacturing supplies were also recovered in the basement.
Paulino could face up to life behind bars, officials said. U.S. Attorney's Office SDNY

Both counts carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison, the feds said. 

“This pill mill was a ticking time bomb for New Yorkers,” Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino III said in a statement. “With the amount of fentanyl seized, potentially countless lethal doses were taken off the streets.”

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the seizure helped deal a heavy blow to the Big Apple’s drug trafficking operations. 

Some of the pills discovered in the Washington Heights basement.
A DEA official called the “pill mill” a “ticking time bomb for New Yorkers.” U.S. Attorney's Office SDNY

“Last night’s seizure not only removed substantial quantities of deadly narcotics from the streets, but it also hit drug dealers in their pockets and potentially saved the lives of countless New Yorkers suffering from addiction,” Williams said. “Thanks to the work of our law enforcement officers, another alleged narcotics trafficker’s operation has been disrupted.” 

The El Dorado Task Force — made up of officers from the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD — worked on the investigation, Williams said.