By Daniel Massey
A Richmond Hill couple allegedly transformed their home on a quiet, residential block into a million-dollar-a-year illegal drug “supermarket” for middle-class users, authorities said last week.
Eight people, including five Queens residents, were charged last week for their alleged roles in the ring, which involved a Brooklyn doctor who wrote thousands of fake prescriptions for designer drugs such as OxyContin and Percocet, Queens DA Richard Brown said.
The operation supplied high-grade cocaine, top-quality marijuana, ecstasy and the various designer drugs to as many as 250 middle-class drug users in Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island and northern New Jersey, the DA said.
The “supermarket,” allegedly based out of the Richmond Hill home of Henry and Debra Stadelmann, employed a New York Hospital pharmacist from Flushing as a drug courier, paid a law firm secretary from Queens Village in cash and pills to fill fake prescriptions and obtained illegal drugs such as cocaine from various suppliers across the borough and city, investigators said.
An additional four people were arrested earlier in what was an 18-month investigation, including a former FDNY battalion chief and an alleged Woodhaven drug supplier, the DA said.
The defendants, who made up an intricate web of suppliers, dealers and users, were charged in a 95-count indictment with various counts of criminal sale and possession of controlled substances and conspiracy charges, authorities said.
“The operation even offered its blue- and white collar clientele convenient takeout, pickups and home delivery,” Brown said.
Henry Stadelmann, 44, was the kingpin of the “supermarket,” Brown said, running the operation out of his home at 101-42 114th St. on a residential block in Richmond Hill. In a raid Jan. 9 on the house, police found large quantities of pills, marijuana, prescriptions for drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin written by a Brooklyn doctor and bank records for accounts totaling $430,000, the DA said.
The so-called “supermarket” allegedly sold cocaine for $1,200 an ounce, marijuana for $1,900 a pound and the increasingly popular OxyContin, known on the street as “hillbilly heroin,” for up to $20 per tablet, the DA said.
The Brooklyn doctor, Richard Goodin, 58, allegedly charged Stadelmann $60 per prescription, according to the Queens district attorney. Stadelmann then nearly tripled that price, selling the prescriptions for up to $150 each, Brown said.
Authorities said Dr. Goodin knew that the pills he prescribed would be sold to young people at rave parties.
Both Goodin and Stadelmann were ordered held without bail by Acting Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grosso. They each face 25 years to life in prison. Bail was set for Stadelmann’s ex-wife and alleged partner Debra, 44, at $250,000. She faces 8 1/3 years to life in prison.
The couple was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child for allowing their daughters, ages 7 and 9, to play on bundles of marijuana and near open pill bottles, the DA said.
Stadelmann had Dr. Goodin write prescriptions for his 84-year-old mother, but he usually paid Kathy Disarno, 36, the law firm secretary from Queens Village, in cash and pills to fill fake prescriptions, Brown said. She is being held on $75,000 bail and faces 8 1/3 years to life in prison, if convicted.
Authorities said the customers included Robert Gleason, 43, of Long Beach, a former FDNY battalion chief and John Spaeth, 64, a Queens Village locksmith, who was also charged with dealing drugs. Gleason, a former Brooklyn battalion chief, faces 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The New York Hospital chemist, Martin Browne, 42, of Flushing, allegedly moonlighted as a designer drug and marijuana courier, delivering to Gleason and at least two white collar clients in New Jersey, among others, Brown said. He faces 25 years to life in prison and is being held on $150,000 bail.
One other Queens suspect charged last week, Edwin Santiago, 25, of Ozone Park, allegedly supplied Stadelmann with ecstasy and amphetamines, authorities said. He faces 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Pierre Lecorre, 36, of Woodhaven, was arrested earlier in the investigation and charged with supplying the “supermarket” with cocaine, the DA said.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at TImesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
