On April 23, 2018, New York City police detective Joseph Franco arrested 48-year-old Turrell Irving near 38 Gouverneur Street in New York City after the detective allegedly saw Irving pass cocaine to a woman who sold the cocaine to an undercover informant. Irving was released on bond on April 25. On June 13, 2018, Irving pled guilty in New York County Supreme Court to misdemeanor criminal possession of cocaine. He was sentenced to the three days he had served from the time of his arrest until his release on bond.
In 2018, Franco came under investigation by the New York County District Attorney’s Office after video surveillance of the area near 38 Gourverneur Street showed no drug transaction involving Irving occurred. The video showed that the informant merely had held the door of a building open for Irving as he entered and the informant exited. No drugs changed hands, the video showed.
On January 15, 2019, after an investigation by the New York County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors asked that Irving’s conviction be vacated and the charges were dismissed.
In April 2019, Franco was indicted on 16 counts, including perjury and official misconduct for framing Irving and two other people— Tameeka Baker and Julio Irizzarry. The charges against Franco were dismissed by a judge in 2023, after he found that prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence to Franco's attorneys. – Maurice Possley
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