MONROE – State Police arrested a man and woman on weapon and drug possession charges when they ran a stop sign on Route 17M in the Village of Monroe on Monday.
The driver of the car, Ariel Varsanyi, 34, of Newburgh, fled on foot, throwing a loaded .380 caliber handgun into a grassy area behind a pharmacy and then threw a quantity of cocaine and heroin behind an auto body shop. The evidence was recovered by State Police K-9 units. Varsanyi was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a controlled substance, both as felonies. He was jailed in lieu of $90,000.
A passenger in the car, Tessa Smith, 22, of Monroe, was arrested at the scene for possession of cocaine as a felony. She was sent to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail.
Varsanyi is currently on federal probation for a previous narcotics possession charge. After his arrest, local and State Police and the US Probation Office conducted a search of his residence on Maggie Road in the Town of Newburgh.
Items found in his apartment included a semi-automatic AK-type assault handgun; a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun; .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun; .22 caliber revolver-type pistol, several high capacity ammunition magazines; approximately three ounces of heroin, 2.5 ounces of cocaine, 16 grams of Hydrocodone, and 17 grams of marijuana, and drug cutting agents, narcotics packaging and processing materials.
Drugs, weapons seized from Varsany’s apartment
