District Attorney Hoovler Details Guilty Plea in Drug Conspiracy Case
Defendant was Initially Arrested as Part of “Operation Final Blow,” an Over Four-Month-Long Investigation Designed to Disrupt Major Narcotics Trafficking in the City of Port Jervis and Surrounding Areas
Defendant Expected to Face up to 5-10 Years in Prison
Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, Brian Stevenson, 45, of Port Jervis, pled guilty in Orange County Court before the Honorable Craig Stephen Brown to Conspiracy in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and Forcible Touching. Under the plea agreement announced on the record at the time that Stevenson pled guilty, the People will recommend that Stevenson be sentenced to five (5) to ten (10) years in prison to be followed by three (3) years of post-release supervision when he is next in court on June 5, 2023.
“Operation Final Blow” was initially started by the City of Port Jervis Police Department, the Orange County Drug Task Force, the New York State Police Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Pike County Criminal Investigations Division of the Pike County District Attorney’s Office, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and included the use of court ordered eavesdropping, as well as the execution of seventeen search warrants. Other law enforcement agencies who provided crucial aid in the investigation included the Town of Deerpark Police Department, the City of Middletown Police Department, the Town of Wallkill Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, the Sussex County Guns, Gang and Narcotics Taskforce, and the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office. Federal agencies who aided in the operation included Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), the FBI’s Safe Streets Taskforce and the United States Marshall’s Service Fugitive Task Force.
Search warrants executed during the investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately two kilograms of cocaine, 74 grams of heroin, 165 grams of fentanyl, 1,600 ecstasy pills and 235 pills containing oxycodone, as well as seven illegally possessed firearms and $153,690. Eleven automobiles, four motorcycles and two ATVs were also taken into evidence.
At the time of his plea, Stevenson admitted that between July 6, 2022 and September 26, 2022, while in Orange County, New York, he conspired with others to possess and sell cocaine for profit. He further admitted that on December 20, 2022 in Port Jervis, he possessed cocaine with the intent to sell it and forcibly grabbed the breasts of another individual.
District Attorney Hoovler thanked all the state, local and federal law enforcement officials who aided in the investigation and eventual apprehension of Stevenson.
“The takedown of this broad and dang