Clay woman sentenced to 6 years for drug conspiracy

 

Date: June 27, 2024

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Lauren Roosa, formerly of Clay, New York, was sentenced today to 72 months in federal prison for her role in a drug-trafficking organization that distributed methamphetamine in Onondaga County and elsewhere in Central New York.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division.

As part of her prior guilty plea, Roosa admitted that from approximately January 2020 through at least April 2021, she conspired with others to distribute methamphetamine in Central New York, which had been transported from California. Roosa further admitted that she agreed to receive shipments of methamphetamine at her residence in Clay, New York, which had been sent via commercial delivery service by coconspirators. One of these shipments contained 879 grams of pure methamphetamine. Roosa also acknowledged that she knew that a coconspirator had stored methamphetamine at a small convenience store in Syracuse, New York, which included 405 grams of pure methamphetamine seized by law enforcement, and that the $17,460 in U.S. currency also seized from that location was drug proceeds.

United States District Judge David N. Hurd also ordered Roosa to serve a 3-year term of supervised release to follow her release from prison, and the forfeiture of a total of $22,010 seized currency.

This case was investigated by U.S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), DEA, New York State Police-Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team (NYSP-VGNET), Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, Syracuse Police Department, Oklahoma City Police Department, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. McCrobie.

Assistant Chief David Zisserson and Trial Attorney Andres Chinchilla of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division prosecuted the case, with assistance and support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. The agency’s Houston Field Office stretches across Texas with nine offices between Houston and El Paso.