KINGSTON – Kerhonkson resident Joshua Stuart, 42, faces sentencing in Ulster County Court in November following his conviction on Tuesday on charges of armed robbery, burglary and criminal possession of a weapon for entering Ellenville Regional Hospital and demanding drugs.
The jury, which deliberated for 2 ½ hours, acquitted him on a charge of attempted murder of a police officer.
Stuart entered the hospital around 4 a.m. on Friday, September 28, 2018 while armed with a loaded 9 mm handgun and demanded Dilaudid and Demerol. After hospital staff resisted, he fired the weapon into a glass dispensary and stole 18 glass vials of Dilaudid and syringes before fleeing.
A police manhunt fanned out and within an hour, Stuart was spotted in a wooded area in Wawarsing and when he was ordered to show his hands, he fired at least four rounds at a New York City Department of Environmental Protection Officer. His partner returned fire and Stuart fled into the woods.
The following day he broke into a home on Route 55 near the wooded area where he was last seen. A magazine from a handgun was found and tested for DNA confirming Stuart had been there.
On Sunday morning, September 30, 2018, he committed two more burglaries and stole a 2005 Honda Pilot vehicle, which he drove to New York City.
On Monday, October 1, 2018, Stuart was arrested by members of the US Marshals Violent Felony Fugitive Task Force after robbing a coffee shop in Brooklyn and attempting to escape by driving into the Gowanus Canal.
He was in possession of the gun he used in the robbery and police shooting when arrested.
