GOSHEN – A 31-year-old man entered a guilty plea on Monday in Orange County Court to being a major drug trafficker. The trafficker’s father also pled guilty to evidence tampering charges according to Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler.
Port Jervis resident Richard McInturff pled guilty to felony charges of operating as a major drug trafficker and escape. His father, Larry McInturff, age 66, of Port Jervis, pled guilty to tampering with physical evidence.
According to DA Hoovler, the plea agreement with the younger McInturff says the prosecutor will recommend that he serve twelve years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision on the operating as a major trafficker charge and two-to-four years in state prison on the escape charge when he is sentenced on September 22, 2022.
Hoovler says he will recommend that Larry McInturff serve a split sentence of six months in Orange County Jail and five years of probation.
On March 18, 2021, members of the Port Jervis City Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Group executed a search warrant at Richard McInturff’s residence located in the City of Port Jervis. The search warrant was part of an investigation into the illicit sales of heroin in Port Jervis.
Detectives recovered 7,892 packets of suspected heroin and a scale of the type commonly used to weigh narcotics when they are being packaged for sale, according to Hoovler.
During the plea proceedings, Richard McInturff admitted that he, acting as a profiteer, knowingly possessed 7,892 glassine envelopes of a powdery substance containing fentanyl/heroin, with the intent to sell them, and that the value of the narcotics exceeded $75,000. Richard McInturff further admitted to escaping from custody while at the Port Jervis police department on March 19, 2021, after having been charged with the felony of operating as a major trafficker.
Larry McInturff admitted that on March 20, 2021, he was speaking with his son, Richard McInturff on the phone while the son was in the Orange County Jail. At his son’s direction, Larry McInturff concealed a keyring with keys to an apartment that belonged to Richard McInturff, while knowing it would be used as evidence in the trial against his son.
“The opioid epidemic is tragic and while those who are addicted to drugs deserve our compassion and assistance, profiteers such as this defendant deserve stern and just punishment,” said District Attorney David Hoovler, adding “The significant seizure of narcotics, one of the largest in the history of Port Jervis, serves as a reminder of the scope of the efforts to rid our streets of these poisons.”
