Defendant Sentenced to 9 Years in State Prison for Possessing a Loaded Pistol

Defendant also charged by New York State Organized Crime Taskforce as part of “Operation Yellow Brick Road” for being a higher-level member of a Newburgh Street Gang

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Tuesday, February 27, 2018. Frederick L. Blue, 21, of Newburgh, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to nine years in state prison and five years post-release supervision for having possessed a loaded .380 semiautomatic pistol in the City of Newburgh on May 22, 2017. The District Attorney’s Office had recommended a sentence of ten years in state prison. On November 28, 2017, Blue pleaded guilty to the armed felony of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree,

At the time Blue pleaded guilty, he admitted that he possessed the loaded pistol at about 4:47 PM on May 22, 2017, while he was in the vicinity of Carpenter Street and First Street in the City of Newburgh. Orange County prosecutors argued that Blue had been carrying the weapon in connection with his narcotics trafficking activities. Blue had also been charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree, on May 22, 2017, for having possessed cocaine at the same time he possessed the gun.

Blue has also been charged by the New York State Organized Crime Task Force as part of their “Operation Yellow Brick Road” enforcement action, which targeted Newburgh’s “600 Gang” and which resulted in a 172-count indictment charging sixteen members of a large, violent narcotics trafficking ring operating in the Hudson Valley, selling heroin and cocaine in Newburgh and elsewhere in Orange County. That indictment, charges sixteen alleged co-conspirators, including Blue, with Conspiracy, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance, and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance. The Organized Crime Task Force has alleged Blue to be a “higher-level member” of the “600 Gang”. Orange County Assistant District Attorneys were cross-designated as Special Assistant Attorney Generals to aid the Organized Crime Task Force in that investigation and prosecution.

The gun case was prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher P. Borek. District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation and the arrest of Blue.

“The narcotics trade inevitably leads to the possession of illegal weapons and violence,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “My office will work with all of law enforcement partners and will seek severe prison sentences for anyone who possesses an illegal handgun on our city streets, particularly drug dealers. City residents have the right walk their streets without fear of facing someone with an illegal handgun. I commend the City of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation and apprehension of this defendant.”

A criminal charge is merely an allegation by the police 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.