Mistakes in grand jury recording prompt Suffolk judge to dismiss drug charges

A Suffolk judge has dismissed charges against the alleged ringleader of “an open air drug market" on Long Island’s East End after finding a grand jury stenographer made dozens of errors that rendered the prosecution's case legally defective.

The defects caused the alleged ringleader to be charged for 14 serious felonies prosecutors attributed to a family member.

The case offered a rare glimpse into the secret grand jury process and how recording errors can create significant legal flaws, forcing the dismissal of charges.

The August decision by state Supreme Court Justice John Collins also throws into limbo the prosecution against nine additional defendants charged in the July 2025 indictment, including a Riverside man serving a 12-to-15-year prison sentence and others already released from custody.

“Dismissal of the indictment is the only remedy available at this time," Collins wrote in a 15-page decision following a July hearing where he found prosecutors could not adequately reconstruct the grand jury proceeding due to the stenographer's errors and inability to translate her own notes a year later.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office was given 45 days to secure new indictments against Robert Love, 72, of Riverhead, who they allege headed a cocaine trafficking network that included several family members, and co-defendant Matthew Johnson, 40, of Riverhead, who Collins also found may have been prejudiced by the mistakes. The judge met with prosecutors and attorneys for eight more defendants Wednesday to discuss how the decision impacts their clients, who have already pleaded guilty but will return to court this month.

Anna Sokol, director of communications for Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, said the office “respects the judge’s decision to dismiss" the charges against Love and Johnson but will re-present the facts to a grand jury.

“The Office of the Suffolk County District Attorney is committed to dismantling drug trafficking rings and keeping our communities safe," Sokol said in a statement. “We are equally committed to ensuring that justice is administered with the utmost integrity."

The prosecution against each of the defendants will continue with "full force," Sokol said.

Shorthand errors

The dismissal was not the result of a legal challenge to the strength of evidence against the defendants in the yearlong East End Drug Task Force investigation, which included more than two dozen sales of cocaine trafficked from Queens to an undercover officer at a house on Brown Street in Riverside, some of which were captured on video surveillance. The judge also noted in his Aug. 19 decision that there were no allegations of “knowing misconduct or fraud" on the part of prosecutors.

Instead, the hearing centered on shorthand errors made by the stenographer, who was not named in court filings but who records show has been employed on a per diem basis by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office since 2013.

Prosecutors conceded the stenographer made at least 26 errors in her grand jury minutes but argued those mistakes did not prejudice the nine men and one woman charged. The discrepancies included names of defendants, dates of alleged crimes, penal law sections and descriptions of criminal acts, according to the judge's ruling.

Testimony at the grand jury reconstruction hearing that concluded July 1 showed many of the errors related to shorthand mistakes with the names of Robert Love and his brother, Ronald Love, 60, of Riverside, who was among those charged in the conspiracy.

Collins determined the mistakes led Robert Love to be charged with acts committed before he was alleged to have entered the conspiracy. Love was facing up to 25 years to life in prison as previously charged.

The stenographer also admitted during the hearing that she deleted her “dictionary" and “brief forms" — shortcut systems court reporters use to write at high speeds — making it difficult for her to testify to the contents of her minutes.

“As you sit here today, can you decipher your stenographic notes from the July 1, 2025, proceeding?" a prosecutor asked her at the hearing.

“No, I cannot," the stenographer said.

Collins wrote that he was “troubled" by the stenographer’s admissions that it was her common practice to delete her records, and he noted the district attorney’s office is required by law to maintain those records.

Sokol said the district attorney’s office is currently reviewing "all cases involving the stenographer in question."

Robert Love’s defense attorney Christopher Cassar, of Huntington, said the errors became known after he filed a motion for the judge to inspect the grand jury minutes, a standard request for pretrial relief in New York courts.

“[The judge] determined there was such defects in the grand jury presentation that it required him to dismiss the case," said Cassar, who added that his client maintains his innocence.

Attorney Christopher Gioe, of Hauppauge, who represents Johnson, joined in that motion for dismissal and said his client also denies the charge he previously faced.

“The evidence is not sufficient enough to charge him with [conspiracy]," Gioe said this week. Conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of 8 ⅓ to 25 years in state prison.

Both Robert Love and Johnson remain in custody at the county jail while prosecutors pursue a new indictment. Both defendants are due back in court Oct. 1.

Attorney Melissa Aguanno, of Holbrook, who represents Timothy McKay Sr., the defendant who resided at the Riverside house where prosecutors allege drug dealers openly sold cocaine “all throughout the day, 7 days per week," said she will ask prosecutors to vacate his prior plea after reaching a new agreement. She declined to say exactly how many fewer years her client might face in prison after previously being sentenced to 12 to 15 years on conspiracy, drug and weapons charges.

“I think we’ve basically come to a fair resolution of the case," Aguanno said. “I think the DA’s office has been fair when it comes to my client."

McKay, 57, is due back in court Sept. 14.
 

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.