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Updated 05/14/2012 08:42 PM

Several arrested for selling drugs at Albany treatment center

The Albany County Sherriff's department targets a lucrative drug selling market and nets four arrests in three undercover operations. YNN's Erin Vannella reports.

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- "I think they were out of the car for less than 15 minutes and they had someone arrested for selling Xanax," said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.

Four arrests followed a tip to the Albany County Sheriff Department for drug sales outside the Whitney Young Methadone Clinic on Dewitt Street.

"You're preying on someone's weakness," said Apple. "They're down there trying to solve the issue and someone's out there dangling that piece of candy in front of them. So that's what we're trying to stop."

Turns out three of those arrested were clinic patients at the time, possessing and/or selling to their own and ultimately to undercover investigators. Clinic administrators say it's not an internal problem, nor is it a problem they've been ignoring.

"We've actually asked the Albany Police Department to be here because we had suspected by the activity we see outside in the street where the building is located that there's just unsavory characters parked out there routinely and we don't believe they belong there," said Whitney Young Health Services President and CEO David Shippee.

Apple calls the accused actions counterproductive. A clinic like Whitney Young helps addicts turn their lives around and can keep people out of jail. But those who cave to their illegal habit need to be stopped, he said, for their own good and for those around them.

"The person we had a real major issue with was the young girl who had the baby in her arms and a three-year-old with her and she's selling heroine to us," said Apple. "So she actually handed the two-month-old off to a friend so she could get her heroine out and sell it. We've got a real problem with that."