Man sentenced to 14 years in prison for selling drugs out of New York daycare

Sep 07, 2023

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A Long Island man will spend 14 years behind bars after he was caught peddling drugs out of an illegal daycare and nearly killed a romantic rival in 2021.

Lex Lloyd was handed the sentence to be followed by five years’ post-release supervision by Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly Monday after he pleaded guilty in February to a slew of charges including criminal possession of a controlled substance and attempted murder.

The prosecutor said Lloyd, 26, and a codefendant named Anthony Austin ran a narcotics business from unlicensed day care centers in Hempstead, Long Island and Rosedale, Queens respectively.

Investigators found 520 grams of cocaine, 50 oxycodone pills, two narcotics presses and several bullets inside Lloyd's home which doubled as the illegal child care facility in Hempstead.

He even prepared cocaine with acetone in a play area of the day care center, according to the DA.

"The defendant brazenly prepared narcotics near children's toys and furniture at a fully functioning daycare center," Donnelly said in a statement. "Countless children were put at risk because of this defendant's behavior."

In an unrelated crime, Lloyd shot his girlfriend's ex in the back as the victim's 3-year-old son was sitting in car nearby on Feb. 10, 2021 — about two months after he threatened the same man with a gun while he was holding the child's hand, prosecutors said.

"In separate incidents, Lex Lloyd further endangered another child by attacking a romantic rival, who was with his son, and nearly killing the man in February 2021," Donnelly said.

He pleaded guilty to 13 charges in total — criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, conspiracy in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, menacing and three counts each of criminal possession of a controlled substance in third degree and endangering the welfare of a child.

The drug dealer was one of 40 people in a drug trafficking ring indicted in March 2021 following an 18-month investigation by the district attorney's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives called "Operation Honeycomb."

Through the investigation, authorities seized 38 firearms, including assault weapons and ammunition — as well as 9,937 grams of cocaine, 1,478 grams of crack cocaine, 1,144 grams of heroin, 227 grams of fentanyl, 210 grams of morphine and more than $398,000 in cash.

Lloyd's codefendant and Queens counterpart, Austin, was sentenced to four years in prison on Oct. 26, 2021.

Another conspirator in the drug ring, Stephon Whethers is serving 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in September to operating as a major trafficker and other related charges.