KINGSTON – After the Town of Shawangunk Police Department responded April 15 to the opioid overdose and death of Chase Coddington, from hamlet of Wallkill, the agency sought out the Ulster County Sheriff’s Department to find out who supplied the drugs to the victim.
Now John and Neil Formisano, brothers from Wallkill, and Humberto Borges, of Newburgh, have been charged in the death of Coddington.
John Formisano has been charged with criminally negligent homicide. He is also charged with sale of a controlled substance, a combination of heroin and fentanyl, along with his brother and Borges.
As the county deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s also coping with the opioid problem that has resulted in 31 overdose deaths this year, up from 13 at the same time in 2019.
“Extremely troubling,” said Dave Clegg, Ulster County’s district attorney, of that staggering increase.
Clegg said addiction issues are more troubling for individuals during this time of economic uncertainty as an uncontrolled virus eats its way through our communities.
“People are stressed out. People are vulnerable to begin with. It’s much more difficult to go through a pandemic with these problems, and at the same time, the drugs are more dangerous than ever,” said Clegg.” It’s that combination that’s leading to all of these overdose deaths.”
Hampering officials are the bail reform measures, which began at the first of the year. The Formisano brothers and Borges are not in jail for Coddington’s death. The Formisano brothers were released on appearance tickets, and Borges was briefly detained, due to his criminal history, before being issued an appearance ticket.
“If you know it’s an appearance ticket, there is no incentive to cooperate with law enforcement to know where these drugs are being brought in from,” said Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa.
But that’s expected to change next month when a kilo of cocaine or heroin will result in an arraignment instead of an appearance ticket.
“Now that’s a qualifying offense. The judge will make that decision if you are remanded to jail,” said Figueroa. “If this doesn’t happen, more people are going to die. There will be more overdoses.”
