Cops Say Sagaponack Man Was Trafficking in Cocaine

A Sagaponack man stands accused by Sag Harbor Village police of being a cocaine trafficker. David A. Weinzweig, who turns 40 in December, was arraigned on three felony charges, including possession of the drug with the intent to sell on Friday in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court in front of Justice Lisa R. Rana.

Mr. Weinzweig was on the court's calendar that day to begin to deal with three misdemeanor charges, including possession of a small amount of cocaine and aggravated drunken driving, which were originally made by police after his early morning arrest on Sept. 23.

Police had stopped Mr. Weinzweig in a 1999 Mercury Mountaineer at about 4:15 in the morning in front of the Shell Station on Hampton Street for allegedly driving without working brake lights. According to police, after placing him under arrest on the drunken driving charge, the officer noticed two packs of Camel cigarettes on the floor in front of the driver's seat. Most of the cigarettes had been removed from the packs, and replaced with small packets of a white powdery substance, leading to the initial misdemeanor possession charge.

The Mercury was impounded, and police continued to search it. On Sept. 26, they added the felony charges to the court file, saying that they had found a plastic sandwich bag containing over an eighth of an ounce of the drug inside a tote bag on the floor behind the front passenger seat. In addition to the felony charges, police also charged Mr. Weinzweig with possession of drug paraphernalia, including 27 glassine envelopes and a digital scale. That charge is a misdemeanor.

Standing next to Mr. Weinzweig in court on Friday was his attorney, Edward Burke Jr., who entered a denial to the felony charges. Mr. Burke told the court that Mr. Weinzweig was not a flight risk, and asked that the original bail amount of $500 be maintained. Justice Rana agreed with Mr. Burke, but only after issuing a stern warning from the bench that if Mr. Weinzweig were to miss any scheduled court appearances, his bail would be raised many times over.

Mr. Burke said afterwards that Mr. Weinzweig was looking forward to defending himself against the charges in court.