DA: Twelve-year sentence for Hempstead drug dealer

A Hempstead man was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking ring discovered during an investigation of "large-scale narcotic suppliers in the Hempstead area," Nassau prosecutors said.

Able McTootle, 43, pleaded guilty on March 30 to 39 charges, including narcotics trafficking, second-degree criminal conspiracy, criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance before acting state Supreme Court Justice Robert Schwartz, according to prosecutors.

McTootle was among 40 people indicted in March 2021 following an 18-month investigation by local, state and federal authorities into drug trafficking that also went into New York City, prosecutors said. The investigation was nicknamed "Operation Honeycomb" because defendants stored and packaged drugs in a Hempstead home known as "The Honeycomb," prosecutors have previously said. 

“We began this operation to get at the heart of the violence in Hempstead. That investigation led us directly to Able McTootle, a key drug supplier to the most violent individuals in the area,” said Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly in a news release. “The pursuit of this defendant grew into a massive takedown with our local, federal, and state partners, that has since resulted in the guilty pleas of more than two dozen drug traffickers and dealers, including several major traffickers from Hempstead.”

McTootle’s attorney, Bruce Barket of Garden City, said in an interview with Newsday that the sentence was “the minimum he could receive, given the allegations, proving that our drug laws are still too severe.”

As the investigation — which started in October 2019 — expanded, prosecutors said, nine people including McTootle emerged as major traffickers. Prosecutors said they obtained wiretaps through warrants to identify “large-scale narcotic suppliers in the Hempstead area."   

McTootle, prosecutors said, sold up to six kilograms of cocaine a week and made more than $1 million a year selling drugs. When McTootle was arrested on March 10, 2021 at his Wellesley Street home, investigators found 404 grams of cocaine, 46 grams of heroin and 21 grams of fentanyl, along with grinders, blenders, scales and 9 mm ammunition, prosecutors said.

Drugs sold by McTootle and others indicted were shipped to California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Virginia, according to prosecutors.

The drug trafficking ring has led to 21 people being sentenced, prosecutors said. Cases are pending for the remaining defendants.