Orange County News
For Immediate Release                                Contact: Christopher Borek 
Monday, March 28, 2022                       845.291.3276, 845.238.4245c 

District Attorney Hoovler Announces State Prison Sentence in 

Middletown Narcotics and Weapons Case

Defendant who Pled Guilty During Trial to Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree 

Sentenced to Fifteen Years in State Prison 

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on March 25, 2022, Sequan Lewis, 32, of Monticello, was sentenced to a total of fifteen years in state prison in connection with guilty pleas that he had entered during the course of a felony jury trial for narcotics and weapons possession.  On February 14, 2022, Lewis pleaded guilty in Orange County Court to one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree.   Lewis had pled guilty during a felony jury trial that had commenced February 9, 2022.  

Prosecutors at the trial had argued that on September 4, 2020, police officers from the City of Middletown Police Department, the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement and Narcotics Team “URGENT”, and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, were conducting surveillance on a suspected narcotics dealer when they saw a car containing Sequan Lewis pull up to where the target of their investigation was parked.  The police officers observed Lewis enter that person’s car and then return to the car he had arrived in.  City of Middletown Police Officers and URGENT followed the car with Lewis in it, which eventually stopped in the City of Middletown.   Police approached the car and recovered a loaded Smith and Wesson .22 caliber pistol. Lewis ran away, inadvertently leaving one of his shoes behind.   Police arrested Lewis and recovered the shoe, which contained 6.5 grams of cocaine. At the time that he pleaded guilty, Lewis admitted possessing the loaded pistol as well as the narcotics, which he intended on selling.

At the sentencing proceedings prosecutors noted that Lewis has two prior violent felony convictions which subjected him to enhanced sentencing.  Lewis was sentenced to fifteen years in state prison and three years post-release supervision for the crime of Criminal Possession of a  Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, and a concurrent sentence of three and one-half to seven years in state prison on the charge of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree.

District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Assistant District Attorneys Tanja Beemer and Peter Fernandez, who prosecuted the case. 

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the police officers of the City of Middletown Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and “URGENT” for their investigation and the arrest of Lewis. 

“I hope that this fifteen-year state prison sentence will deter others who might be tempted to become involved in narcotics and illegal weapons possession as this defendant did,” said District Attorney Hoovler.  “We have seen time and time again that illegal guns are invariably around those who deal in illegal narcotics. This defendant’s past violent behavior and narcotics and weapons possession render him a threat to the community. Life is too precious to waste in state prison because you cannot stay away from guns and drugs.”