DA Hoovler Announces Guilty Pleas in Gun Possession and Narcotics Sale Cases

February 27, 2017

Defendant Angela Peoples admits illegally possessing .45 Caliber Pistol
and Selling Oxycodone in the Town of Wallkill

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced today, that Angela Peoples, 40, of Wallkill, pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, as well two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree. Those charges were contained in three separate indictments.

At the time she pleaded guilty, Peoples admitted that on September 14, 2016, she illegally possessed a loaded .45 caliber pistol. That pistol was recovered when the Orange County Drug Task Force, assisted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Special Operations Group and the Town of Wallkill Police Department, executed a search warrant at Peoples’ residence on Airport Road in the Town of Wallkill. At the time she pleaded guilty, Angela Peoples also admitted that on both May 23, 2016, and July 21, 2016, she sold oxycodone pills to undercover police officers in the vicinity of her Airport Road residence. Angela Peoples is scheduled to be sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown on May 8, 2017, at which time the District Attorney’s Office will recommend a state prison of four years.

Angela Peoples’ son, Robert C. Peoples, Jr., had also been charged by an Orange County grand jury with offenses including Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and Criminal Possession of a Firearm for possessing oxycodone pills and a firearm recovered during the September 14, 2016 search warrant execution at the residence he shares with his mother. Robert C. Peoples, Jr., had also been charged with Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree. He is next scheduled to appear in Orange County Court on April 3, 2017.

The cases are being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Matthew Healy.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Orange County Drug Task Force, the Orange County Sheriff’s Special Operations Group and the Town of Wallkill Police Department for their investigation and the arrest of Angela Peoples.

“Despite her prior protestations of innocence to the media, Angela Peoples has finally taken responsibility for her actions,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “I am grateful for the fine work that the Orange County Drug Task Force, and other Orange County law enforcement agencies, do every day to rid our communities of illegal narcotics and the illegally possessed guns that inevitably accompany drug trafficking.”

A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.