Cops arrest parkhill parolee, accusing him of selling crack to police officer

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A parolee from Clifton faces charges of drug dealing after, police allege, he sold crack to an undercover officer.

Police say Matthew Harper, 28, sold drugs to the officer on Jan. 21, in front of his apartment building at 160 Park Hill Ave., and again on Friday, at Hannah and Bay streets in Tompkinsville.

Police arrested him Friday, charging him with third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and two counts each of third-, fifth- and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to William J. Smith, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Harper, who is also known as Matthew Stokes and Matthew Philippe, was sentenced in 2001 to between four years, three months and seven years in prison after being convicted of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a weapon.

Public records show he returned to prison for three weeks last August as a parole violator.