Mastic NY man arrested illegally trafficking in untaxed cigarettes..

October 24, 2009 - SUFFOLK COUNTY, New York—-A 33-year old Mastic man will be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip Thursday following his arrest Wednesday, October 21st for illegally trafficking in untaxed cigarettes.

The Poospatuck Reservation is an Indian reservation in the community of Mastic, Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 271 at the 2000 census. Mastic, NY

Ronald E. Bell Jr. was taken into custody following an investigation by the Tax Crimes Unit of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County Police Department, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, the US Postal Service and the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

During the execution of a search warrant Wednesday afternoon at Bell’s establishment, Flying Arrow Smoke Shop, 130 Poospatuck Lane, Mastic, investigators seized 5,850 cartons, or 1,117,000 individual cigarettes.

Bell is currently on parole for a conviction in 2007 for possessing and transporting more than 20,000 untaxed cigarettes. Bell will be arraigned Thursday, October 22nd in courtroom D-11 on one charge of possession and transportation of untaxed cigarettes, and one charge of attempting to evade New York State Cigarette Tax Laws.

Reference: Mastic Man Charged In Trafficking Untaxed Butts, NorthCountrygazette.org, 10/21/2009.

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