Recovered weapons
VIEW SUSPECTS AND CHARGES
GOSHEN – A three-month investigation into illegal drug sales in Orange County concluded with 13 people being indicted by a grand jury on felony crimes. Eleven were charged with possessing and selling drugs including heroin, Xanax, crack cocaine, Oxycodone and Suboxone.
Orange County Drug Task Force investigators had developed information
concerning illegal drug sales in the villages of Washingtonville, Walden,
and Monroe, the cities of Newburgh and Middletown, and the towns of New
Windsor and Wallkill.
Two of the defendants were also charged with felony weapon possession.
The Orange County Drug Task Force, assisted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Special Operations Group and Wallkill Town Police executed a search warrant at 8 Airport Road in the Town of Wallkill and located an illegally possessed loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun. Several rifles and other pistols were also recovered.
District Attorney David Hoovler said the efforts to curb drug sales are continuing.
“We use these cases to gather as much intelligence as we can as well as to prosecute the individuals, but I am sure that these cases will lead to others,” The DA said.
Hoovler credited the success of the narcotics enforcement actions to
the collective efforts of the police agencies involved. “Too
many of our fellow Orange County residents have died this year because
of the illicit drug trade, and the lives of countless others, both inside
and outside of our cities, continue to be ravaged by addiction.”
Sheriff Carl DuBois said the need for continual enforcement actions in the county “reinforces how serious the drug problem is.” He said heroin overdoses and deaths associated with fentanyl continue to rise and are not confined to the cities.
“A coordinated law enforcement response involving cooperation among different police agencies is the only effective way to combat illegal narcotics,” DuBois said.
