We’ve seen a million stories where criminals get caught because they did something small, like roll through a stop sign. Here’s the public transit version.
A suspected drug dealer on Staten Island got caught because he got on a bus and didn’t pay the bus fare. An MTA official saw him do it as he boarded a bus at 2:00 P.M. on October 25th.
It would normally just be a ticket, no big deal. But an NYPD Bus Enforcement Unit joined in, and they found 52 bags of drugs on him. 40 of the baggies had cocaine in them. The other 12 contained heroin.
His name is Noel Steidell. He’s 40 years old, and it’s not his first rodeo. He did five years for drug and weapons charges and just got paroled in February.
He’s now facing fresh charges for criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession with intent to sell, and theft of services for not paying the bus fare.
