A 34-year-old Freeport man convicted of selling a total of 0.315 grams of cocaine to an undercover police officer is now facing up to 45 years in prison, a sentence tied not to the tiny amount of drugs but to his criminal history. Ishmel Owens was found guilty by a Suffolk County jury on nine total counts stemming from three separate undercover buys, and prosecutors say his prior felony record is what pushes his potential sentence into decades-long territory.
According to the Daily Voice, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said Owens faces up to 45 years in prison because of his previous record, which includes prior convictions for first-degree robbery, second-degree burglary, third-degree weapons possession, petit larceny, and possession of stolen property. Owens served several months in state prison following his August 2022 weapons conviction before being released on parole in July 2023, according to the same outlet. Under New York Penal Law § 220.39, selling any amount of a narcotic drug is classified as third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance — a Class B non-violent felony that alone carries up to nine years for a first-time offender, according to Federal Lawyers.
How Three Small Buys Led to Nine Convictions
Suffolk County police began investigating Owens in April 2025 and carried out three separate undercover purchases on April 24, April 30, and May 30 of that year, the report notes. Those transactions yielded a cumulative total of 0.315 grams of cocaine — an amount that averages out to roughly 0.105 grams per meetup. Owens was ultimately convicted on three counts of third-degree criminal drug sale, three counts of third-degree drug possession, two counts of fourth-degree drug possession, and one count of seventh-degree drug possession.
Law enforcement did not catch up with Owens until January 14, 2026, nearly eight months after the final undercover sale, when he was arrested in Inwood, a Nassau County hamlet bordering Queens. The arrest crossed county lines even though the drug sales themselves were investigated and prosecuted by Suffolk County authorities.
Persistent Felony Offender Law Explains the Exposure
The dramatic gap between the drug quantity involved and Owens' sentencing exposure comes down to New York's discretionary persistent felony offender statute. Under New York Penal Law § 70.10, a defendant convicted of a felony who has two or more prior felony convictions carrying prison terms of more than a year can be adjudicated a persistent felony offender, which allows judges to impose enhanced sentences of up to 25 years to life per count, according to the state's Unified Court System. Notably, that statute does not impose a 10-year look-back limit on qualifying prior convictions, meaning older felonies on Owens' record remain fair game for prosecutors.
Owens also has an open, unresolved case in Nassau County. According to Patch, an Ishmel Owens was arrested in January 2024 in North Long Beach after allegedly punching a man in a motel room and threatening to kill a woman unless the victim withdrew money from an ATM; police reportedly arrested him at a 7-Eleven after the victim alerted authorities. Online court records reviewed by the Daily Voice show a man with the same name and age facing two counts of assault in Nassau County. Owens has pending charges tied to that incident, and those charges remain separate and unresolved from the Suffolk County drug case.
A DA Known for Pushing Tougher Drug Penalties
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney has built a reputation for pursuing stricter narcotics enforcement, partnering with state legislators to support Chelsey's Law, aimed at fatal overdoses, and pushing to expand pre-trial bail eligibility for major drug offenders, according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office. Owens' case, with its stacked B-felony counts from three separate sale incidents, fits into that broader push for harsher treatment of repeat drug offenders on Long Island.
The case also lands amid a string of recent Long Island cocaine cases. Hoodline previously reported on a Freeport father accused of using his daughter in a drug deal, in which Nassau County police charged a local man with using his 13-year-old daughter to assist in a cocaine sale this past June. Together, the cases point to intensified narcotics task force activity across Long Island's suburban neighborhoods.
What Happens at Sentencing
Owens' formal sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday, September 21, in Suffolk County Court, prosecutors confirmed. The sentencing judge will need to decide whether to exercise discretion under the persistent felony offender statute and whether the terms for his multiple B-felony counts will run concurrently or consecutively — a decision that could mean the difference between a matter of years and the full 45-year exposure prosecutors have laid out.
