Levar Jackson, Jaclyn Misuraca, Fentanyl Distribution Conspiracy, New York 2024

Couple Charged with Fentanyl Distribution Conspiracy

Levar Jackson, 44, and Jaclyn Misuraca, 45, both of Islip Terrace, New York, were charged with conspiring to distribute fentanyl in a federal court in Central Islip on May 8, 2024.

According to the complaint, Jackson and Misuraca sold approximately 270 grams of fentanyl in broad daylight and in public locations across Long Island, including outside of a nursing home where Misuraca worked. In several transactions, Misuraca sold significant quantities of fentanyl to an undercover officer in the parking lot of the nursing home.

Several fentanyl doses sold by the defendants tested positive for xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that is of similar potency to fentanyl but not susceptible to treatment with Narcan, a medication that can reverse overdoses. Xylazine, known by its street names “tranq” and the “zombie drug,” can cause users to blackout in a stupor and kill skin tissue by burning the flesh, which leads to deep sores.

Fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic. From 2011 through 2021, fatal overdoses associated with misuse of clandestinely produced fentanyl and fentanyl analogs increased markedly. The number of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, excluding methadone, increased dramatically each year, to more than 68,000 in 2021.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark E. Misorek and James R. Simmons are in charge of the prosecution. Levar Jackson and Jaclyn Misuraca are being arraigned this afternoon before Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks.

According to the DEA, fentanyl is a highly potent opioid that can be deadly in small amounts. The defendants are being charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, a federal crime that carries significant penalties.

Levar Jackson and Jaclyn Misuraca are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before Magistrate Judge James M. Wicks. The case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.

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