Cops: Drug bust following traffic stop

In an arrest that the Shelter Island Police Department said yielded about 50 packets of heroin and prescription drugs and marijuana packaged for sale, James Joseph Kistner Jr., 23, of Manorville was arrested on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 12.

The arrest followed a traffic stop just after 2 p.m on Locust Avenue that was prompted by a tip from a caller who reported a vehicle being driven erratically, Detective Sgt. Jack Thilberg told the Reporter.

Actual quantities of the drugs, which also included the narcotic suboxone and anxiety medication Xanax, will be determined by the Suffolk County Police Department  crime lab, but the quantities were sufficient to charge Mr. Kistner with intent to sell, Detective Thilberg said.

Mr. Kistner was arraigned Wednesday in Shelter Island Justice Court, with Judge Helen Rosenblum presiding, on the following charges:  Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 3rd degree with intent to sell, a class B felony; two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree; unlawful possession of marijuana; two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia (a digital scale and drug packaging material); driving while ability impaired by drugs; failure to keep right; and failure to signal.

He was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead in lieu of $15,000 bail.