New Emails Show the Biden White House Coordinated Directly With the DOJ to...
DNC Reveals Why They're Keeping Their 2024 Autopsy Under Seal. Get Ready to...
How 'John' the Homeless Guy Solved the Brown University Shooting
How You Know the Lib Media Realizes There's Nothing in the Epstein Files...
The View Co-Host Drops Embarrassingly Shameful Take on Trump's Bonuses to Our Troops
Trump Knew What He Was Doing With This Move on the Kennedy Center
Trump Just Made a Move That Would Make JFK Proud
Ruben Gallego Doesn’t Want to Stop the Drug Trade, and Says Trump Is...
As America Turns 250, Here's How One Content Creator Is Making Patriotism Shareable...
Guess Who Rachel Maddow Blames for Undoing 30 Years of HIV/AIDS Prevention Work
Markwayne Mullin Just Nuked Bernie Sanders for Refusing to Help Kids With Cancer
Buyer's Remorse? Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich Blasts State for Healthcare Worker Abortion...
Jimmy Kimmel’s Year From Hell (According to Jimmy Kimmel)
Zohran Mamdani Appointee Resigns After Antisemitic Social Media Posts Resurface
You Won't Believe What the Australian PM's Solution to the Bondi Beach Terror...
Tipsheet

NY Uses Tax Dollars to Pay Former Criminals to Mentor Youth. Guess What Happened Next.

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

There isn't a government program that Democrats won't waste money on, no matter how ridiculous. Instead of creating a culture that puts criminals in prison (that would be racist) and teaches children that they will face consequences for bad behavior, Democrats insist on funding social programs that never work, but are sure to make them feel good.

Advertisement

In New York, the Strategic Neighborhood Understanding and Guardian (SNUG) Program pairs former criminals with youth to dissuade them from entering a life of drugs and violent crime. But two men paid by that taxpayer-funded program were just busted for...dealing drugs and carrying weapons.

They were busted initially earlier this year and were apparently on the clock when they were selling the drugs.

Here's more from the original story.

They were hired to stop crime and now, they’re accused of fueling it.

Two Syracuse men working for a state-funded anti-violence program are now at the center of a drug investigation.

A year-long probe led to the shocking discovery and a 24-count indictment.

Just steps away from the Southwest Community Center in Syracuse where they were paid to steer young people away from violence, prosecutors say Cassieum Pitts and Ahmed Abdi, were selling drugs.

“And they’re accused of doing this on the clock?” NewsChannel 9’s Rachel Polansky asked. 

“Yes,” Senior Assistant District Attorney, Alphonse Williams, said.

Advertisement

Now those two men, Ahmed Abdi and Cassieum Pitts, have accepted plea deals in this case. Abdi will be in prison for six years; Pitts will serve nine.

Prosecutors said Abdi and Pitts were wearing orange safety vests and on duty when they sold cocaine and methamphetamine to a confidential informant.

"It's honestly crazy, right?" said Alphonse Williams, the Senior District Attorney in Onondaga County. "You can’t miss those bright orange vests. And you’re like, man, this is actually happening in our city,” Williams also called the video of Abdi and Pitts "discomforting" and did damage to the community, especially the kids they were hired to mentor.

"When the youth see that, they’re like, if you’re not taking it seriously, I’m not gonna take it seriously. I’m gonna be like you, and I’m gonna continue to do the things that are plaguing our community at large. It’s the youth that they’re supposed to be serving that gets hurt by this."

Governor Kathy Hochul was a proponent of SNUG. During a March 2022 press conference, she said, "This is an important program because I know that it works. I want to continue investing in what we know has a proven track record of accomplishment." In February, she said the state would spend $20 million on SNUG, with almost $2 million going to the Syracuse site. That announcement came shortly before Abdi and Pitts were arrested.

Advertisement

In a statement, Lateef Johnson-Kinsey, a spokesperson for the mayor, said, "Every organization has bad apples, no matter what the organization is. It was two individuals, not 20. Two individuals does not stop what we are doing as a community."

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

Help us continue exposing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership. 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement