Police

Cops: Ex-con caught with drugs during warrant arrest

NY STATE POLICE PHOTO | A mugshot of Denzel Faines from his arrest in 2009.
NY STATE POLICE PHOTO | A mugshot of Denzel Faines from his arrest in 2009.

An ex-convict with a long history of drug arrests and convictions is facing a slew of new charges after police caught him with drugs during a warrant arrest in Riverhead Wednesday afternoon, Riverhead Town police said.

Denzel T. Faines, 21, of Riverhead was arrested by the Riverhead police Community Oriented Police Enforcement Unit at the Holiday Inn Express on Route 58 at about 4:15 p.m. on an outstanding Suffolk County police bench warrant, according to a police report.

Cops said they found Mr. Faines was in possession of “quantities of narcotics and drug paraphernalia” when he was arrested, according to the report.

He was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree criminal possession of marijuana, and second-degree criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

He was taken to police headquarters, processed and held for arraignment, according to the report.

Mr. Faines has an extensive history of drug arrests dating back at least four years, according to previous reports. On Nov. 28, 2009 he was arrested with two other men by New York State police after a traffic stop, police said.

Mr. Faines was a passenger in the vehicle, which smelled of marijuana, state police said. After searching the car, police found 58 tablets of ecstasy, 41 grams of marijuana, 13 grams of crack cocaine and two ounces of liquid codeine, according to a police report.

Mr. Faines was charged with three counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

He later plead down to a violation and was sentenced to time already served in jail, according to justice court reports from 2010.

In June 2011, Mr. Faines was arrested by Suffolk County police and charged with operating a motor vehicle impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor, as well as several traffic infractions, according to Suffolk County court reports.

He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor last May and was sentenced to four months in prison and had his license revoked.

Upon he release from prison, he was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs that same month after cops found PCP in his car, Southampton Town police said.

Mr. Faines’ car was stopped in the travel lanes of Flanders Road near Spinney Road in Flanders, police said. He was in the driver’s seat at the time, with his hazard lights on, according to a police report.

Mr. Faines’ speech was difficult to understand, but he allegedly told the officer that he had just smoked “dust” prior to driving, authorities said. Dust is another name for the drug angel dust or PCP.

Police charged him with driving while impaired by drugs, along with traffic violations and failure to appear in court on a warrant.

Then two months later, he was arrested again after he allegedly crashed into a median in Riverside while driving high on drugs, Southampton Town police said at the time.

Mr. Faines was “driving erratically” on County Road 51 when he lost control of his vehicle and drove through the road median, according to a police report.

Mr. Faines was driving under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash, police.

He was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, a felony, and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, a misdemeanor, according to the report. An update on that case was not immediately available.

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