3 arrested on drug charges in S. Hempstead

Two Roosevelt women and a South Hempstead man were arrested on drug charges early Thursday after First Precinct officers watched two of them make a deal for crack cocaine, Nassau County police said.

Michelle Hickman, 46, and Julia Lopez, 38, drove to the corner of Willis Street and Grand Avenue in South Hempstead at about 12:35 a.m. and met Frantz Villejoint, 48.

Villejoint was talking on his cellphone when Lopez exited a 1995 Ford and "a drug transaction" was made between the two, police said.

Lopez dropped a bag of crack cocaine and Villejoint tried to hide another bag in his sock as officers approached the two, police said in a news release.

Hickman, who was still in the vehicle, tried to hide a cigarette box -- with glass stems and crack residue -- inside the vehicle's center console, police said.

Police also said they found a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun in Lopez's pocketbook.

Lopez, of 475 Brookside Ave., is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Villejoint, of 653 Willis St., and Hickman, of 62 Prospect St., are each charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

All three are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead.