Mountains of drugs, guns & jewelry seized in multiagency investigation that began in Middletown
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler listed the seizures and arrests made as a result of "Operation Slow Motion": 15 kilos of cocaine, a kilo of fentanyl, $258,625 in cash, 17 illegally owned guns, and 17 arrests.
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A multi-agency drug investigation spanning New York and New Jersey led to mountains of deadly drugs being confiscated this week, along with several arrests.
At a press conference Friday afternoon in Goshen, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler listed the seizures and arrests made as a result of "Operation Slow Motion." The operation confiscated 15 kilos of cocaine, one kilo of fentanyl, $258,625 in cash and 17 illegally owned guns.
Hoovler says 17 people were arrested.
Hoovler said the operation was called "Slow Motion" because the drug sales operation was run by a group that was "calculated, deliberate and cautious."
After about nine months of investigating, 13 search warrants were executed on Wednesday in the Hudson Valley, New York City and New Jersey, during which the piles of evidence were seized.
The investigation started last year in Middletown, and quickly grew to include 17 other local and federal agencies.
"When we do a drug case in Orange County, we take out the supply chain," Hoovler said. "We focus low to high and we take it all out."
Hoovler said officers arrested the drug suppliers from New Jersey and New York City, as well as high-level sellers in and around Middletown.
Middletown Police Chief John Ewanciw said his narcotics team learned about alleged drug dealer Zach Lewis last year, which led to the large-scale operation that included wiretaps.
Lewis is in the middle of the Operation Slow Motion suspect chart, just below the suspected suppliers and just above a row of alleged sellers in the Middletown area.
"Realizing this individual was more than an average street dealer, the narcotics unit began looking into the individual," Ewanciw said.
Hoovler called Lewis "the local merchant of death," saying he sold large quantities of cocaine and fentanyl in Middletown.
The one kilo of fentanyl that was seized contains enough doses to kill all the approximately 400,000 residents of Orange County, Hoovler said.
Hoovler said he will make sure any low-level dealer who tries to move up the local illicit drug sales ladder, now that the supposed kingpins are off the streets, loses everything, too.
"In addition, we're going to take all your jewelry," Hoovler said, picking up a necklace from a pile of confiscated jewelry, "including this four and a half pound gold chain."
The suspects are charged with drug possession, drug sales and conspiracy.
Convictions could land some of the suspects in prison for decades. Hoovler said investigators are still looking for two other suspects.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the authorities immediately.
Hoovler also thanked local officers from federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, for assisting in the investigation.
