All arrests were made in the city of Port Jervis and the town of Deerpark. During executions of court-authorized search warrants, police also seized illicit drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl; sales tools for measuring and packaging narcotics; and two illegally possessed handguns.
Jerry McBee, a resident of the house, was arrested and hit with three charges related to criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia.
On the early morning of April 1, Port Jervis police searched a house on Ball Street in the city and found two digital scales with white, powdery substances on them inside a bedroom shared by two defendants, Joshua Conklin and Christina Bohm.
Two hours later, when police executed a search warrant on a Delaware Drive house in Sparrow Bush, they found 25 grams of cocaine and 19 white, glassine envelopes containing fentanyl in a room used by Conklin, Bohm, and Jody Etchie.
All three were arrested on the same day and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal use of drug paraphernalia in the second degree.
Herbert Kanoff, owner of the Ball Street house, was accused of knowingly allowing his residence to be used as a place for illegal drug sales and use as well as of receiving crack cocaine for personal use in return. He faces a criminal nuisance charge.
Jeffrey Libby, the sixth defendant, was charged with felony crimes of criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degree on top of narcotics-related accusations.
Port Jervis police conducted the investigations with support from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Deerpark police, Middletown police, the county sheriff’s office, the Pike County District Attorney’s Office, and the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center.
“Drug dealers need to understand that their criminal business is not welcome in Orange County,” Hoovler said in a statement. “It is through collaboration and cooperation amongst police agencies and my office that these long-term investigations can disrupt the narcotics networks in our communities.”
“There is a well-known nexus between drug trafficking, illegally possessed firearms, and violence,” Port Jervis police chief William Worden said in a statement. “We will never rest in our pursuit of drug traffickers.”
“The sale of illegal narcotics affects every neighborhood, and the Town of Deerpark is no exception,” Deerpark police chief Richard Sztyndor said in a statement. “We will continue our pursuit of justice for the damage they cause throughout Orange County.”
All cases mentioned above are prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Alexis Gregory and Amanda Arroyo.
