Orange County News

For Immediate Release                  Contact: Christopher Borek
March 22, 2018                          845.291.3276,  845.238.4245c

District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Plea in Narcotics Case

Maybrook Man Admits Selling Narcotics to Woman Who Died

District Attorney’s Office Recommending Eight Year State Prison Sentence

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, March 22, 2018, Jay Pagan, 32, of Maybrook, pleaded guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Second Degree, in connection with selling heroin to a twenty-four year old Maybrook woman who died as the result of a possible drug overdose on January 26, 2018.

At the time that he pleaded guilty, Pagan admitted that he had sold heroin to the woman while  they were at his Maybrook residence.  Prosecutors stated on the record at the time that Pagan pleaded guilty that they would be recommending that he be sentenced to eight years in state prison when he is sentenced on April 30, 2018.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Town of Montgomery Police Department for their investigation of the case and the defendant’s arrest.

“Drug dealers who sell narcotics that result in someone’s death from an overdose must be held accountable for their actions,” said District Attorney Hoovler.  “The opioid crises continues to claim far too many lives. There were eighty-eight suspected overdose fatalities in Orange County in 2017. I commend the Town of Montgomery Police Department for their investigation of this woman’s tragic death.  My office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to prosecute those who peddle dangerous and frequently lethal narcotics.  While we continue to recommend treatment for many offenders who are addicted to narcotics, reducing the supply of narcotics by imposing meaningful state prison sentences on narcotics traffickers is a necessary part of the solution to this epidemic.”

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Janine Kovacs.

A criminal charge is merely an allegation 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.