# Steroid charges dropped against former NY trooper



## kwflatbed

BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO. STAFF WRITER 

Newsday (New York) 
Copyright 2005 Newsday, Inc. 

After two trials, two hung juries and a lot of expense, Suffolk prosecutors yesterday dropped misdemeanor charges against a former New York State trooper charged with conspiring to deal steroids. 

In March, jurors acquitted James Foley, 28, of Hauppauge, on charges that he possessed the illegal drug, but remained hung on a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy.

The one charge was retried in August, and ended again with a hung jury. The trial prosecutors, Economic Crimes Bureau chief prosecutor Ed Heilig and chief of the public integrity unit Jeremy Scileppi, said they intended to try the case a third time.

Foley's defense attorney, Sarita Kedia of Manhattan, questioned then why two bureau chiefs would go to such lengths for a misdemeanor.

But at a Suffolk County Court pretrial conference in Riverhead yesterday, prosecutors announced they were dismissing the remaining charge.

Heilig said yesterday the decision was "in the interest of justice" and to "not incur further costs."

"I'm really relieved that the prosecution finally decided to exercise its discretion in an appropriate manner," Kedia said.

Foley was arrested in a 2002 sting that also charged three other police officers, including his brother Tom Foley, a former Suffolk police officer who pleaded guilty to selling a controlled substance and is serving a 1- to 3-year sentence.

The charges against James Foley stemmed largely from a recorded phone call with his brother. When Tom Foley asked his brother if he wanted some leftover steroids he hadn't sold yet, James Foley replied, "Yeah, I'll take them."

Prosecutors offered Foley several plea deals, including a conditional dismissal of the charges if he admitted guilt.

But Foley, who was not in court yesterday, said he would settle for nothing less than clearing his name altogether, so he could get his job back. He was fired following his indictment.

"I would have gone to trial 10 times if I had to," Foley said yesterday. "I wasn't going to let this get to me."


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