York teen arrested for dealing oxycodone

A 17-year old male is in the Livingston County Jail after sheriff’s deputies say he sold prescription pills on the grounds of the York Central School District. Brandon T. Condello, a junior at York school, allegedly sold Oxycodone pills to a 14 year old student, a York eighth grader, on May 3, 2010. His name is being withheld.

School Resource Officer, Sheriff’s Deputy Gene Chichester, investigated the incident that led to Condello’s arrest and two felony charges of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the third degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance on school grounds. Condello was arraigned in York Town Court before Judge Purtell and remanded to the Livingston County Jail on $10,000 bail.

Oxycodone is a controlled narcotic, synthesized from a chemical found in opium. A commonly-prescribed painkiller, the drug is highly abused by teenagers and young adults and can be dangerous to those that it is not prescribed to.

York Central School has had an on campus school resource officer since 2002. York School Superintendent Daniel Murray says as word of the arrest travels through the community, it will send a clear message that the district will not tolerate drugs on its campus.

With York struggling with a double digit tax increase for next year due to a large cut in state aid funding, the administration says this is another example of the importance of having a school resource officer on the campus.

“We are fortunate to have a school resource officer who was able to respond to this situation immediately and follow through with criminal charges,” Murray commented.