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Busted

| 29 Apr 2016 | 03:02
    State Police vehicles lined up outside Warwick Town Court Thursday afternoon, bringing more than a dozen suspects for arraignment.
    State Police vehicles lined up outside Warwick Town Court Thursday afternoon, bringing more than a dozen suspects for arraignment.
    Photo provided by New York State Police Police said these are some of the drugs confiscated during Thursday's raids through Orange, Sullivan and Sussex counties.
    Photo provided by New York State Police Police said these are some of the drugs confiscated during Thursday's raids through Orange, Sullivan and Sussex counties.
    Photo provided by New York State Police Police said this the cash confiscated during Thursday's raids.
    Photo provided by New York State Police Police said this the cash confiscated during Thursday's raids.
    Photo provided by New York State Police State Police said these are the weapons confiscated during the arrest of 18 people Thursday, April 28, in connection with what District Attorney David Hoovler said was a widespread cocaine distribution network that extended from Orange County to Sullivan County and then to Sussex County, N.J.
    Photo provided by New York State Police State Police said these are the weapons confiscated during the arrest of 18 people Thursday, April 28, in connection with what District Attorney David Hoovler said was a widespread cocaine distribution network that extended from Orange County to Sullivan County and then to Sussex County, N.J.
    Samantha Weber O'Brien of Pine Island was arraigned on a second-degree conspiracy charge in Warwick Town Court on Thursday, Oct. 28.
    Samantha Weber O'Brien of Pine Island was arraigned on a second-degree conspiracy charge in Warwick Town Court on Thursday, Oct. 28.
    Peter M. Noger, 55, of Goshen, is escorted into Warwick Town Court on Thursday, April 28, where he was arraigned on a charge of second-degree conspiracy.
    Peter M. Noger, 55, of Goshen, is escorted into Warwick Town Court on Thursday, April 28, where he was arraigned on a charge of second-degree conspiracy.
    Photos by Roger Gavan Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler speaks with reporters outside Warwick Town Court Thursday, April 28, following the arrest of 18 people in connection with a cocaine distribution network in Orange, Sullivan and Sussex counties.
    Photos by Roger Gavan Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler speaks with reporters outside Warwick Town Court Thursday, April 28, following the arrest of 18 people in connection with a cocaine distribution network in Orange, Sullivan and Sussex counties.
    A New York State tropper escorts Charles M. Sawtelle, 53, of Westbookville, into Warwick Town Court, where he was arraigned on charges of second-degree conspiracy and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
    A New York State tropper escorts Charles M. Sawtelle, 53, of Westbookville, into Warwick Town Court, where he was arraigned on charges of second-degree conspiracy and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

WARWICK, N.Y. — The New York State Police Special Investigations Unit, in conjunction with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and New Jersey Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office, executed multiple search warrants on Thursday, April 28, and arrests throughout Orange County, Sullivan County and Sussex County, N.J., as a result of a seven-month narcotics investigation.
Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said the investigation centered on the activities of a cocaine distribution network throughout the Orange, Sullivan and Sussex counties. Eighteen people were arrested on narcotics, conspiracy, and other charges, including one suspect who is charged in both New York and New Jersey.
Police said more than two kilograms, or nearly 4.5 pounds, of cocaine, the majority in Sussex County.
The 18 suspects ranged in age from 21 to 56. They were arraigned before Warwick Town Justice Nancy Brenner DeAngelo throughout Thursday afternoon.
Miguel Galvan, 36, Vernon faces charges in both New York and New Jersey. The New York charges include first-degree criminal possession of controlled substance. The New Jersey charges include maintaining or operating a controlled dangerous substance production facility and weapons charges.
The case is another example of cooperation between New Jersey and New York authorities in the war against drugs.
In a statement, Hoovler said: “Illegal narcotics trafficking is destroying the fabric of our society as well as poisoning our communities. Although we have emphasized education and treatment as important avenues to keep people off drugs in the first place, so that we may dry up the demand for illegal narcotics, we have also made it a priority to do everything within the power of this office to attack the supply of narcotics by vigorous enforcement actions against narcotics dealers. Today’s enforcement action represents one more effort to stop the sale of illegal drugs, and, hopefully, it will make a significant dent in the cocaine trade in our area.”

Major trafficker
Two men, Brandon G. Masker, 33, Warwick, N.Y., and Anthony J. Spagnola, 56, Cuddebackville, N.Y., where charged as operating as a major trafficker, a class A-1 felony that carries a sentence of up to a life sentence with a minimum of between 15 and 40 years in prison.
According to the New York State Penal Code, a person is guilty of operating as a major trafficker when:
“As a profiteer, such person knowingly and unlawfully sells, on one or more occasions within six months or less, a narcotic drug, and the proceeds collected or due from such sale or sales have a total aggregate value of $75,000 or more.”