By Daily Freeman, Kingston, N.Y.
KINGSTON, N.Y. — Eleven people have been arrested following a narcotics trafficking investigation that began in 2023 in the Ulster County Jail, the Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
In January 2023, according to a press release, members of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Intelligence Unit and Corrections K9 Unit launched the investigation involving “the trafficking of narcotics and other prohibited contraband in the Ulster County Jail .”
In conjunction with Sheriff’s Office detectives, the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team (URGENT) and the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy’s NY/NJ High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, correction officers at the jail “identified 11 individuals responsible for organizing and trafficking the narcotics,” the Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
The investigation resulted in the seizure of about 650 doses of Suboxone at the jail with an approximate street value of $3,250 and an “estimated jail value” of $32,500. Additionally, about $16,000 in commissary funds and Cash App funds used by inmates “and their associates who were not incarcerated to facilitate the trafficking operation.”
The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a question about whether any jail employees were involved in these alleged transactions.
In December 2023, the Sheriff’s Office presented the case to an Ulster County grand jury which indicted all 11 suspects. Warrants for their arrest were subsequently issued, the Sheriff’s Office said.
In January 2024, all defendants were arrested and charged with two felony counts each of conspiracy.
Arrested were, Barbara Wilson, 59, of Kerhonkson; Angel Lyons, 23, of Lake Katrine; Kevin Drake, 34, of Kingston; James Hasbrouck, 32, of Esopus; Peter Bonavita, 49, of Kingston; William Ramos, 37, of Lloyd; Devin Pope, 30, of Esopus; Lisa Mosely, 50, of Kingston; Phillip Canino, 43, of Lloyd; Tara Dougherty, 51, of Kingston; and Ramon Velez, 54, of Plattekill.
All 11 defendants were arraigned in Ulster County Court, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ramos, Pope and Hasbrouck, who were previously held at Ulster County Jail, and are now incarcerated by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on unrelated charges.
Velez and Drake were incarcerated in Ulster County Jail and remain at the jail on unrelated charges.
Lyons, Bonavita, Mosely and Canino were sent to Ulster County Jail and Dougherty and Wilson were released on their own recognizance, the Sheriff’s Office said.
All defendants are scheduled to appear in the Ulster County Court on a future date and time, the Sheriff’s Office said.
In a press release, Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa said the defendants “showed complete disregard of the law by smuggling drugs and contraband in the Ulster County Jail .”
In a prepared statement, Ulster County Corrections Superintendent Anthony Maggio said: “The Ulster County Jail Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) program is intended to help incarcerated individuals struggling with opioid use disorder to overcome their addiction. Illegally introducing narcotics in the jail directly undermines the efforts of those who seek to improve their lives by overcoming substance abuse and addiction. It puts other incarcerated individuals at risk and corrections officers at risk. This investigation exemplifies the correction staff will always remain vigilant to combat narcotics trafficking in the jail.”
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