Ex-Drug Counselor Faces Drug Charges

A former substance abuse counselor at Rikers Island faces felony charges after allegedly attempting to smuggle heroin and cocaine into the prison, Department of Investigation officials announced yesterday.

Juan Delarosa, 56, of Brooklyn, was arrested in February at the entrance to Rikers Island with 109 packets of heroin and two bags of cocaine, officials said. According to the DOI, he worked at the prison as a substance abuse counselor through an independent contractor, Prison Health Services. He is being charged with attempted promoting of prison contraband in the first degree, as well as misdemeanor contraband charges.

"It's appalling that a person paid to counsel inmates against drug abuse is charged with trying to smuggle heroin and cocaine into the jail, the exact opposite of what he was paid to do," the DOI commissioner, Rose Gill Hearn, said in a statement yesterday.