Couple Charged with Fentanyl Distribution Conspiracy

Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, a complaint was unsealed charging Levar Jackson and Jaclyn Misuraca with conspiring to distribute fentanyl.  As alleged, Jackson and Misuraca sold approximately 270 grams of fentanyl—often in broad daylight and in public locations across Long Island including outside of a nursing home where Misuraca worked.  They are being arraigned this afternoon before Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent-in-Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division, and Robert Waring, Acting Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department, announced the charges.

Mr. Peace expressed his appreciation to the Nassau County Police Department and the New York State Police for their assistance on the case.

As alleged in the complaint and court filings, between May 2023 and January 2024, Jackson and Misuraca sold approximately 270 grams of fentanyl—often in broad daylight and in public locations across Long Island, including in residential areas and outside of stores.  In several transactions, Misuraca sold significant quantities of fentanyl to an undercover officer in the parking lot of the nursing home where she worked.  When the undercover officer arrived, Misuraca exited the nursing home, completed the sale, and then returned to work inside. 

Several fentanyl doses sold by the defendants tested positive for xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that is of similar potency to fentanyl but not susceptible to treatment with Narcan, a medication that can reverse overdoses.  Known by its street names “tranq” and the “zombie drug,” xylazine can cause users to blackout in a stupor and kill skin tissue by burning the flesh, which leads to deep sores. 

According to the DEA, fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic.  From 2011 through 2021, fatal overdoses associated with misuse of clandestinely produced fentanyl and fentanyl analogs increased markedly.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, excluding methadone were involved in roughly 2,600 drug overdose deaths each year in 2011 and 2012, but from 2013 through 2021, the number of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, excluding methadone increased dramatically each year, to more than 68,000 in 2021.  The total number of overdose deaths for this category was greater than 258,000 for 2013 through 2021.  Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids are primarily driven by illicitly manufactured fentanyl, including fentanyl analogs.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.  Assistant United States Attorneys Mark E. Misorek and James R. Simmons are in charge of the prosecution. 

The Defendants:

LEVAR JACKSON
Age:  44
Islip Terrace, New York

JACLYN MISURACA
Age: 45
Islip Terrace, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-MJ-112