Police: Officers Bust Marijuana Operation In Queens Apartment, Find 8-Year-Old Boy Inside
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A suspect was being held at Rikers Island Tuesday afternoon, after police busted a well-armed marijuana operation he was allegedly running from his home in Queens Village.
NYPD officers pulled over Nuquan Stewart, 30, at 10:45 p.m. Monday upon spotting a burned out brake light on his 2004 Volkswagen, police said. He was driving half a mile away from his 222nd Street home at the time, police said.
Officers noted a strong smell of marijuana when they approached the car and ordered Stewart out, police said. Officers then spotted six bags of marijuana in the open pocket of Stewart's hooded sweatshirt, and a what police termed a gravity knife jutting from a cupholder in the center console of the car, police said.
Stewart was handcuffed and taken into custody on the spot, police said. But as he was being apprehended, he pleaded for the officers to ensure the welfare of his 8-year-old son – who was allegedly home alone while Stewart ran errands, police said.
Stewart gave officers his address and handed over his apartment keys, and the officers went to check on the boy, police said.
Indeed the officers did find the boy in the apartment, but that was not all, police alleged. A strong smell of marijuana was permeating through the entire first-floor hallway of the apartment building, and inside, numerous bags of marijuana and stacks of money were lying in the kitchen in plain sight, police said.
Stewart's son was found sleeping in a bedroom, and was handed over to the city Administration for Children's Services and later to another family member, police said.
The next morning, police returned to the apartment with search warrant in hand, police said.
This time, they confiscated 30 pounds of marijuana in 58 different bags, about $17,500 in cash, and two firearms – a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic with 11 rounds, and a fully automatic Ruger AR-15 along with two high-capacity magazines containing 20 live rounds, police said.
Stewart was slapped with multiple charges, including criminal possession of marijuana, a machine gun, and a loaded firearm, and failure to exercise control of a minor, police said.
He has a past record of arrests for the alleged sale and possession of marijuana and crack cocaine, burglary, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest, police said.
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