West Babylon man arrested on multiple drug charges after authorities raid 4 Long Island locations

Federal agents and Suffolk police seized more than 5 kilograms of fentanyl, 750 grams of cocaine, 15 pounds of marijuana and two assault rifles while executing search warrants Tuesday morning at four locations across Long Island, a detention memo filed by federal prosecutors following the arrest of a West Babylon resident shows.

Officials from the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Suffolk County Police Department arrested Kingsley O. McDonald, 41, on Tuesday morning in connection with the search warrants. The arrest follows a two-year investigation dating back to September 2023, according to the memo, which said McDonald, 41, netted more than $20,000 selling fentanyl to law enforcement agents.

McDonald, charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, pleaded not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven L. Tiscione, who ordered him held without bail during an appearance on Tuesday in Central Islip, officials said.

"The FBI/SCPD/IRS-CI investigation demonstrated that the defendant engaged in a conspiracy to distribute at least five kilograms of fentanyl, as well as other controlled substances, on Long Island," court papers show. 

McDonald could face additional charges, according to the detention memo, which said phone records indicated that he had communicated with a Suffolk resident who died in March 2024 of a drug overdose caused in part by fentanyl.

"The government is continuing to investigate the relationship between the defendant and the victim to determine if the defendant is properly chargeable with distributing fentanyl and other controlled substances that caused the victim’s death," the court papers said.

McDonald, the owner of a trucking company called McDonald Logistics, was represented at his arraignment by attorneys Joseph Ferrante and Joshua Horowitz, who did not immediately return requests for comment. 

Fentanyl, a cheap, synthetic opioid drug traffickers use to cut cocaine, heroin and counterfeit pharmaceutical pills, is responsible for most of the fatal overdoses on Long Island and across the nation. The detention memo noted each of McDonald’s sales involved at least 40 grams of fentanyl. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can cause a fatal overdose, court papers said, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On some occasions, prosecutors said in the court papers, McDonald sold fentanyl mixed with xylazine, which with repeated use can cause painful sores. Xylazine also blocks naloxone and other medications from reversing the effects of drug overdoses.

The detention memo includes photos of items seized during the searches, including the assault rifles, packs of illicit drugs, a kilo press and baggies full of ammunition placed next to a Ronzoni spaghetti box.

McDonald engaged in more than $500,000 in chip transactions at casinos based in Suffolk County, Queens and Connecticut since August 2023. He withdrew more than $400,000 in these transactions — activity the document said is "consistent with his laundering of controlled substances sales proceeds."

Prosecutors asked Tiscione to detain McDonald in part because he has access to large amounts of cash that could help him flee the country. McDonald is a flight risk, they said, because he is a citizen of Jamaica, not the United States, and would be subject to removal from this country if convicted.

Investigators recovered approximately 5 kilograms of fentanyl, an AK-47 rifle,  an AR-15 rifle, a .357-caliber revolver, the 15 pounds of marijuana and a kilogram press at one of two Farmingdale storage facilities maintained by McDonald, according to the detention memo. They seized approximately 1,120 grams of combined fentanyl and heroin and about 350 grams of cocaine at his West Babylon residence.

Officials recovered 400 grams of cocaine and 100 grams of fentanyl from the second Farmingdale storage facility and a .22-caliber firearm from a residence McDonald had in Shirley.

McDonald refused to cooperate with law enforcement by opening phones with his fingerprints or face, prosecutors said in the papers.

"Tellingly, the defendant refused to cooperate with the portion of a search warrant that permitted law enforcement to open those phones with his fingerprints or face," prosecutors wrote in the detention memo. "Despite the defendant’s refusal to comply — which bespeaks the likely presence of further incriminating evidence on those phones — forensic analysts are confident that they will be able to acquire approximately 97% of the data contained on them, which is almost certain to include further incriminating information."

Prosecutors said in court papers McDonald has a "longstanding" criminal record that includes arrests for resisting arrest in 2007, 2008 and 2014, second-degree menacing in 2014, first-degree criminal sale of marijuana in 2008, third-degree attempted assault in 2004, driving while intoxicated in 2003 and second-degree harassment in 2001.

Based on that criminal record, his alleged intention to distribute 5 kilograms of fentanyl, and his possession of multiple firearms, the papers said, McDonald faces at least 262 months to 327 months in prison.