Thomas Hoey, Jr., Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To 151 Months In Prison For Large-Scale Drug Distribution And Obstruction Of Justice
Defendant allegedly stole more than $800,000 from his company’s retirement plan to pay for corporate and personal expenses
MANHATTAN, N.Y. - Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James Hunt, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement (DEA), announced that Thomas Hoey, Jr., who led a large-scale cocaine distribution conspiracy for over five years, which led to the death of another person, and who engaged in a long-term scheme to obstruct the investigation into his crimes, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 151 months in prison. Hoey was indicted on December 20, 2013, and pleaded guilty on August 14, 2014, to charges of conspiring to distribute narcotics, conspiring to suborn perjury, and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel imposed today’s sentence.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “Thomas Hoey not only showed complete indifference to the life-threatening situation he himself created by providing cocaine to Kim Calo, he interfered with efforts to get her medical attention. He also waged an ongoing campaign, beginning immediately upon Ms. Calo’s collapse, to destroy evidence, lie to investigators, and obstruct a grand jury investigation by pressuring a witness to perjure herself. The sentence he has received reflects the callousness of his crimes.”
According to the Indictment, statements made during other public proceedings including today’s sentencing, and other court documents:
Between at least 2005 and 2010, Hoey conspired with others to distribute large quantities of cocaine, in social settings, in exchange for various social and sexual favors.
On January 10, 2009, Nicole Zobkiw went to a hotel room at the Kitano Hotel in midtown Manhattan with Kim Calo and Hoey. Hoey provided cocaine to both women and shortly thereafter Ms. Calo collapsed. Hoey then obstructed all efforts by Ms. Zobkiw and the staff of the hotel to get medical assistance for Ms. Calo, who subsequently died of from the combined effects of the cocaine and alcohol she ingested. Hoey also instructed his driver, Alejandro Noriega, to remove the cocaine and all evidence of cocaine use from the hotel room. Hoey then made numerous false statements to the police investigating Ms. Calo’s death about what had occurred in the hotel room that night.
On April 6, 2011, Ms. Zobkiw was subpoenaed before a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kim Calo. Ms. Zobkiw informed the defendant of the grand jury subpoena and asked him to provide her with a lawyer. The lawyer provided to her by Hoey was Barry Balaban. At Hoey’s direction, Balaban instructed and pressured Ms. Zobkiw to lie to the grand jury.
Ms. Zobkiw appeared before the federal grand jury on April 6, 2011, and gave false testimony about numerous matters material to the grand jury’s investigation by, among other things, denying that Hoey had provided Ms. Calo cocaine that night.
One month after lying to the grand jury, Ms. Zobkiw was brought by Hoey, under false pretenses, to an abandoned warehouse in Long Island. Inside the warehouse, Ms. Zobkiw was pressured by others working for HOEY to sign a document that essentially restated her perjurious grand jury testimony. The plan was to send this document to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in an attempt to prevent criminal charges from being brought against Hoey.
Hoey pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute narcotics, one count of conspiring to suborn perjury, and one count of obstruction of justice. In addition to a prison term of 151 months, Hoey was sentenced to three years of supervised release, was ordered to pay a fine of $ $250,000, and was ordered to pay a $300 special assessment fee.
On February 6, 2012, following a jury trial, Ms. Zobkiw was convicted by a jury of two counts of perjury, and one count of obstruction of justice, all related to her false grand jury testimony on April 6, 2011. Ms. Zobkiw passed away before sentencing.
On April 22, 2014, following a guilty plea, Balaban was convicted of one count of conspiring to suborn perjury, and sentenced to 48 months in prison.
On December 18, 2014, following a guilty plea, Noriega was convicted of one count of misprision of a felony, and sentenced to 45 days in prison.
The arrest was the result of a long-term investigation by the DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which comprises agents and officers of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security (HSI), the New York State Police, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, New York National Guard, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, the Clarkstown Police Department, Port Washington Police Department and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding work of the DEA agents who investigated this case. Mr. Bharara also expressed his gratitude to the New York City Police Department and the New York County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Margaret Garnett and Ian McGinley are in charge of the prosecution.
