Original Article MTA Officer Sentenced For Selling Coke SHIRLEY, NY--A former Metropolitan Transportation Authority Transit Officer arrested by Suffolk district attorney detectives in a drug sweep last summer was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for selling cocaine. Donald Howell of 26 Adobe Drive in Shirley went to work as an MTA cop in January of 2004 after passing the drug screen and lie detector tests. District Attorney Thomas Spota said the investigation turned up evidence that Howell was putting drug deals together on his cell phone while he was on the job in New York City, often on patrol at Grand Central Station. When he was fired from the force after his arrest last June, DA Spota said, Howell was still a probationary officer. Spota said the defendant sold approximately a kilo of cocaine over the course of a seven-month investigation. Howell, 32, pleaded guilty Monday before County Court Judge Ralph Gazzillo in Riverhead to one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance second degree, an A-2 felony, punishable by three to ten years in prison. 2-02-06 2005 North Country Gazette