POUGHKEEPSIE – Residents of South Clinton Street have been complaining to city police and the common council for several months regarding illegal drug activity on their street for months. The Dutchess County Drug Task Force began an investigation weeks ago that culminated in several arrests during a Friday evening raid on South Clinton Street.
Fifty-two-year South Clinton Street homeowner Judy Green spoke at a recent meeting of the Common Council to address concerns about drug dealing and other illegal behavior that is hurting the neighborhood. Green placed the blame for the increased crime on Poughkeepsie-based Baxter Built, a construction and property management company.
Green claims that Baxter owns buildings at both six and nine South Clinton Street. Repeatedly, she intimated, Baxter has rented apartments in his buildings to drug dealers who in turn, bring drug addicts to the neighborhood. Recently, she noted, an alleged drug dealer moved into an apartment at 9 South Clinton Street and was selling drugs from the location, she said. When the plumbing system failed, Baxter allegedly relocated the drug dealer to his building at 6 South Clinton Street.
That move, she said, brought the illegal behavior to the building right next to her house and there have been numerous burglaries and other crimes closer to her home. She said the tenants became more brazen and “increasingly threatening.”
Without Green knowing, the Dutchess County Drug Task Force had been investigating the illegal drug activity in her neighborhood for a few weeks before her complaint on March 5, 2024.
In the evening of March 7, 2024, members of the task force raided the accused drug dealer’s apartment, removing 19 people from the drug house, and the investigation is ongoing.
In addition to the arrest of suspected drug dealer Parrish Beverly, several others were taken into police custody because they had outstanding arrest warrants.
Courtney Burke, 23, was arrested on a New York State Parole warrant related to a robbery in Albany. She was turned over to Parole officials after being processed at the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office following the raid.
Forty-two-year-old Latham Brent was taken into custody and processed at the sheriff’s office. Brent had a felony warrant for burglary and was released to the City of Poughkeepsie police department to answer the warrant.
Bryan Rankin, 27, Was wanted on an arrest warrant for larceny in the Town of Poughkeepsie. After being processed, he was turned over to town police for processing.
The story of Beverly’s drug-dealing arrest will appear on the Mid-Hudson News website on Monday.
