Orange County News

For Immediate Release                                                                           Contact: Christopher Borek
Wednesday, March 14, 2018                                                             845.291.3276, 845.238.4245c

District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Plea in Narcotics Case 

Defendant to be Sentenced to 9 Years in State Prison for Selling Narcotics

Defendant also charged by New York State Organized Crime Taskforce as part of “Operation Yellow Brick Road” for being a higher-level member of a Newburgh Street Gang 

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Damion Jackson, a/k/a “Toto”, 36, of Newburgh, pleaded guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for having sold fentanyl on January 4, 2017.  Under the plea agreement placed on the record at the time Jackson pleaded guilty, he will receive a sentence of nine years in state prison and two years post-release supervision when he is sentenced on July 20, 2018.

Jackson had been charged by an Orange County grand jury with thirteen counts of Criminal sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, fourteen counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, as the result of an investigation by the Orange County Drug Task Force.  

Jackson has also been charged by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force as part of their “Operation Yellow Brick Road” enforcement action, which targeted Newburgh’s “600 Gang” and which resulted in a 172-count indictment charging sixteen members of a large, violent narcotics trafficking ring operating in the Hudson Valley, selling heroin and cocaine in Newburgh and elsewhere in Orange County. That indictment, charges sixteen alleged co-conspirators, including Jackson, with Conspiracy, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance, and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.  The Organized Crime Task Force has alleged Jackson to be a “higher-level member” of the “600 Gang”.  Orange County Assistant District Attorneys were cross-designated as Special Assistant Attorney Generals to aid the Organized Crime Task Force in that investigation and prosecution. Jackson pleaded guilty to Conspiracy in the Second Degree, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree with respect to that case.  Under a plea agreement placed on the record Jackson will be sentenced to state prison time consecutive to the nine years he is receiving on the case being prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office.  The agreement provides that Jackson may be sentenced to three to nine years consecutive to the sentence he will serve on the case prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney. 

The narcotics charges brought by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Neal Eriksen. District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Orange County Drug Task Force and City of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation and the arrest of Jackson.

“I commend the Orange County Drug Task Force for all their efforts in this case” said District Attorney Hoovler.  “My office will work with all of law enforcement partners to bring large scale narcotics dealers to justice. Those who peddle these lethal substances, particularly fentanyl, for profit, in the quantities that this defendant was selling, deserve severe prison sentences.  Far too many lives have been lost to opioids to allow large scale narcotics dealers to continue to operate in Orange County.”

A criminal charge is merely an allegation by the police that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.