Syracuse, NY -- An enterprising drug dealer faces life in prison after operating a narcotics superstore at a Syracuse apartment when he was supposed to be at work. Jody Edelman, 40, whose criminal history stretches back two decades, was convicted in March on three counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and crack. He was also found guilty...
Syracuse, NY -- An enterprising drug dealer faces life in prison after operating a narcotics superstore at a Syracuse apartment when he was supposed to be at work.
Jody Edelman, 40, whose criminal history stretches back two decades, was convicted in March on three counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and crack. He was also found guilty of escaping from a federal halfway house.
Because Edelman has two previous drug convictions, the latest convictions carry a mandatory life sentence, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian.
Edelman was living at a federal halfway house in Syracuse between June and November 2008. During that time, Hartunian said, Edelman got an apartment at Skyline Apartments on James Street and sold drugs there during the hours he was supposed to be working at a local business.
When officials became suspicious, Edelman escaped from the halfway house.
He was caught, in the lobby of Skyline Apartments, by U.S. marshals. A search of the apartment found, a press release said, “sizable quantities of heroin, crack, cocaine, packaging materials along with a 12-ton press used to compress cocaine into kilogram-size quantities.”
Edelman was arrested several times in the 1990s. In 1990, The Post-Standard reported he was arrested for taking part in a brawl at a party. A man said he accidentally brushed Edelman, then 19. The man said Edelman asked him if he was trying to start trouble. The man next found himself being chased into the basement by eight or 10 men.
Later that year, Edelman was charged with assault after an altercation with an off-duty police officer who said Edelman struck him repeatedly with a liquor bottle.
In 1993, Edelman was swept up in a federal search for fugitives. He was arrested on a charge of drug possession.
Contact Charles McChesney at cmcchesney@syracuse.com.