Bethea
MONTICELLO – A Patterson, New Jersey man was sentenced in Sullivan County Court to 10 years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision for his possession of an illegal and loaded handgun found in his waistband during a traffic stop. That occurred on November 22, 2016 on Route 97 in the Town of Tusten.
Dahmir Bethea, 21, had pled guilty to criminal possession of a weapon as a felony.
Bethea was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by State Police for a vehicle and traffic offense last fall. After a field interview revealed a fully loaded and an operational .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun in his waistband. After the trooper secured the gun, Bethea ran from the officer into a wooded area and shouted for another occupant to “get the strap and smoke” the trooper. The other person did not take any action and remained seated in the vehicle as directed by the trooper. After a brief pursuit, Bethea was taken into custody.
A search of the vehicle revealed another fully loaded handgun under a front seat.
Bethea had been convicted previously in New Jersey in 2015 of the felony offense of possession of heroin with intent to distribute it within 1,000 feet of a school. In that case, he possessed 210 glassine envelopes of the drug.
When Bethea was arrested in this latest case, he was wanted in New Jersey for an attempted murder charge involving a handgun that occurred in January 2016. He will be extradited to New Jersey where he will face trial on that charge.
