Orange County News

For Immediate Release                                                                           Contact: Christopher Borek

June 14, 2018                                                                                     845.291.3276, 845.238.4245c

District Attorney Hoovler Joined By New York State Police Major Pierce 

Gallagher, Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois, City of Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden and Other Police Chiefs Announce Countywide Narcotics Enforcement Action

Fifty Defendants Charged with Selling and Possessing Fentanyl,

 Heroin, Cocaine, and Prescription Medications

Goshen, NY – Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler today announced that fifty defendants have been charged with Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, among other chargers, for trafficking fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and prescription medications throughout Orange County. The District Attorney announced the results of the enforcement action at a press conference held on June 14, 2018, at the Orange County Emergency Services Center. At the press conference, District Attorney Hoovler was joined by New York State Police Major Pierce Gallagher, Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois, City of Newburgh Police Chief Doug Solomon, City of Port Jervis Police Chief William Worden, Town of Newburgh Police Chief Bruce Campbell, Town of Montgomery Police Chief Arnold Amthor, Town of Deerpark Police Chief Richard Sztyndor, Town of Wallkill Police Chief Robert Hertman, Town of Crawford Police Chief Dominic Blasko, Town of New Windsor Police Chief Richard Hovey, Village of Walden Police Chief Jeff Holmes, and other law enforcement officials. In addition, representatives from Orange Regional Medical Center and Cornerstone Family Healthcare attended the press conference.

The enforcement action, entitled “Joint Endeavor,” used undercover police officers and informants to purchase fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and prescription medications, and used search warrants. The countywide enforcement action, one of over a dozen since District Attorney Hoovler took office, was designed to help clean up neighborhoods throughout Orange County by targeting individuals trafficking narcotics. In addition to those charged with selling narcotics, one defendant in Port Jervis was charged with Criminal Nuisance in the First Degree, for allowing his premises to be used for narcotics trafficking. One defendant, Jarves M. Evans, 22, of Newburgh, who was also charged with Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, faces up to seventeen years in prison for selling over one-half ounce of cocaine. Three defendants were charged with weapon offenses.

Twenty-seven of the purchases of the drugs that resulted in arrests were performed by the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team. Twenty-one of the purchases of the drugs that resulted in arrests were performed by the Orange County Drug Task Force. Seven of the arrests were performed by the City of Port Jervis Police Department. The Orange County Sheriff’s Special Operations Group aided in the execution of many of the search warrants and in apprehending some individuals who were charged in the enforcement action. The New York State Police Special Operations Response Team aided in the execution of many of the search warrants and in apprehending some individuals who were charged in the enforcement action. Additional police agencies who aided in the enforcement action include: the City of Newburgh Police Department, the Town of Newburgh Police Department, the Town of New Windsor Police Department, the Town of Montgomery Police Department, the Town of Wallkill Police Department, the Town of Crawford Police Department, the Town of Deerpark Police Department, the Village of Walden Police Department, and the United States Marshall’s Regional Fugitive Task Force.

The Orange County Task Force, which was created in 2015, is run under the supervision of a Senior Criminal Investigator from the District Attorney’s Office and a Senior Investigator from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. In addition to personnel from those agencies, the Drug Task Force is composed of police officers from other Orange County police departments. Currently the police departments in the Town of Montgomery, the Town of Wallkill, the Town of Highlands, and the Village of Maybrook have assigned police officers to work on the Task Force. The Task Force assists other agencies in conducting narcotics investigations, including undercover investigations, throughout the county.

Those who have been arrested and charged in this enforcement action include:

Operation Joint Endeavor photographs and mugshots

*          Prior felony conviction

• **        Prior violent felony conviction

The District Attorney’s Office is seeking the public’s assistance the apprehension of the following individuals who have been charged in the enforcement action, but who have not yet been apprehended:

*          Prior felony conviction

The maximum sentence for the Class A-II Felony of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree for someone with a previous violent felony conviction is seventeen years and post release supervision. The maximum sentence for the Class B Felony of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for someone with no previous felony convictions is nine years and post release supervision. The maximum sentence for the Class B Felony of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for someone with no previous felony conviction is twelve years and post release supervision. The maximum sentence for the Class B Felony of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree for someone with a previous violent felony conviction is fifteen years and post release supervision. The maximum sentence for Criminal Possession of Weapon in the Second Degree is fifteen years. The maximum sentence for Criminal Sale of a Firearm is seven years. The maximum sentence for Criminal Possession of a Weapon Third Degree is two and one-third to seven years.

Information from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the healthcare consulting firm IQVIA shows that healthcare practitioners are no longer prescribing opioid medications in the amounts that they had previously been prescribing those drugs. Notwithstanding the decrease in prescriptions for opioid medications, opioid overdose fatalities continue to rise, as the following chart shows.

“We are witnessing an alarming trend of increasing fatal opioid overdoses, even as prescriptions for opioid medications are falling,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “Drug dealers selling opioids, including heroin, oxycodone, and fentanyl, truly are merchants of death. While providing treatment to people addicted to those substances is a major component to solving this problem, and while my office fully supports drug treatment courts as a tool to compel appropriate offenders to get the help they need, one key to our successfully driving down the number of fatal overdoses must be attacking the supply of illegal narcotics. Narcotics enforcement actions such as this are crucial to getting dealers off the streets. Those enforcement actions have been brought in response to community complaints about narcotics traffickers destroying their communities and have been successful, due to the collective efforts of the police agencies involved. Together, we can combat the narcotics epidemic that is killing far too many in our communities. My office remains committed to eradicating this scourge, working with all our law enforcement partners, other government agencies, and concerned citizens.”

The cases involved in the enforcement action are being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Lorri Goldberg and Matthew Healy, and Assistant District Attorneys Neal Eriksen and 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.

Operation Joint Endeavor photographs and mugshots