By:Nicole Falco
According to police, officers from Nassau County's Bureau of Special Operations and the New York City Police Department's Queens Gang Unit, which operates out of the 114th Precinct, were conducting surveillance early Sunday morning outside a home at 1377 Carole Court, where they believed drugs were being stored. Police were waiting for a search warrant to be issued so they could conduct a raid of the home, police said. While they waited outside the house, a man emerged, reportedly carrying two bags.
The suspect got into a car and sped away, with police in pursuit. He crashed the car into nearby parked cars before hitting a utility pole two blocks away on Leonard Way, a dead end, police said. The suspect, whom police identified as Thomas L. Sanders, 35, jumped out of the vehicle and escaped through a nearby backyard.
Police found the cocaine, which is reported to have a street value of as much as $5 million, in the car. They searched the surrounding area, including the woods adjacent to the Southern State Parkway and Valley Stream State Park, using helicopters and police dogs, but did not find the suspect.
Meanwhile, officers executed the search warrant at the Carole Court home and recovered a defaced Baretta handgun in the master bedroom. The gun's serial number had been scratched off, police said. Later that morning in Brooklyn, police arrested Marisol Serrano, 33, who police said lives in the Carole Court house but was not home at the time of the raid, and brought her to the Fifth Precinct for processing. Serrano, a New York City corrections officer, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The NYPD's Department of Public Information lists two addresses for Sanders: 185 Scholes Street in Brooklyn, and the Carole Court home. Sanders reportedly lives with Serrano and her 13-year-old son, who was at home during the police pursuit, officials said.
According to Nassau County's Public Information Office, the case is being handled by New York City because Sanders allegedly deals drugs there. Also, the case is not believed to be gang-related, but is being handled by a Queens gang squad because it was that unit's officers who had been tracking the suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.
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