A nursing home worker and her husband were arraigned in federal court on Wednesday on charges accusing them of distributing fentanyl, federal prosecutors said.
Jaclyn Misuraca, 45, and Levar Jackson, 44, were charged with conspiring to distribute fentanyl, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said. According to court documents, the couple allegedly sold roughly 270 grams of fentanyl to undercover officers between May 2023 and January 2024, often completing the deals in broad daylight or in public locations across Long Island, including residential areas, in front of stores, and in a nursing home parking lot.
Neither Misuraca’s nor Jackson’s attorneys could be reached.
Jackson would arrange the sales in advance, while Misuraca would physically complete them, court documents alleged. On several occasions, Misuraca allegedly sold “significant quantities” of fentanyl to an undercover officer in the parking lot of her job at a Long Island nursing home and went right back to work after the sale, according to court documents.
“By drawing drug purchasers to the nursing home, the defendants jeopardized the safety of countless vulnerable patients as well as the medical professionals who care for them and the family members who visit them,” Peace wrote in a court memo asking that Jackson be detained in order to protect the safety of the community.
One of the alleged occasions took place on Oct. 19, 2023, when the undercover officer agreed to buy fentanyl on a phone call with Jackson, according to a complaint filed by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Jackson allegedly directed the undercover officer to a nursing home in Commack. Misuraca allegedly had the officer meet her in the parking lot, where she is said to have stashed “a white napkin that contained a clear knotted plastic bag with an off-white compressed powder substance inside” in her car.
The officer paid Misuraca $800 for the powder, which was later tested and determined to contain approximately 19.3725 grams of fentanyl that had been mixed with xylazine, according to court documents. Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer that is a sedative and not an opioid, rendering it resistant to overdose reversal treatments like Narcan. Prosecutors said several fentanyl doses the couple allegedly sold tested positive for xylazine.
Officials said Jackson was detained, while Misuraca was released on a bail package due to her medical issues.
According to prosecutors, Jackson has a number of previous convictions over several decades – including for drug dealing – and was on parole when he was allegedly committing the crimes in the latest complaint.
Catalina Gonella
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