{"id":607,"date":"2021-08-20T10:29:02","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T10:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiUmh0dHBzOi8vbWlkaHVkc29ubmV3cy5jb20vMjAyMS8wOC8yMC9tYWpvci1kcnVnLXJpbmctYnJva2VuLXdpdGgtYXJyZXN0cy1pbi1ueS1jdC_SAQA"},"modified":"2021-08-20T10:29:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T10:29:02","slug":"major-drug-ring-broken-with-arrests-in-ny-ct-mid-hudson-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"Major drug ring broken with arrests in NY, CT &#8211; Mid-Hudson News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>GOSHEN \u2013 Authorities in New York and Connecticut have arrested several people in connection with a long-term drug sale and possession operation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Dubbed \u201cOperation Off the Brick,\u201d the investigation involved the trafficking of cocaine in Orange County and Connecticut.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Search warrants were executed at several locations in the Village of Otisville, the City of Middletown, Town of Blooming Grove and hamlet of Kerhonkson in Ulster County. Search warrants were also executed in Connecticut.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Antonio Perez-Molina, 39, of Otisville, was arrested and charged with being a major drug trafficker as well as criminal sale of drugs, conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Lourdes Lopez, 38, of Otisville, was charged with conspiracy, criminal possession of drugs, criminally using drug paraphernalia and criminal possession of a firearm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Juan Mejia, 51, of the Town of Blooming Grove, was charged with conspiracy, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and criminally using drug paraphernalia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Anthony White, 50, of Middletown and Jenah Vega, 22,of Kerhonkson, were charged with conspiracy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two others faced felony charges in Connecticut. Kevin Torres, 27, of Waterbury was charged with possession of drugs with intent to sell \u2013 over a half-ounce of cocaine; and Jose Garcia, 49, of Waterbury, was charged with possession with intent to sell cocaine \u2013 more than one-half ounce, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school zone, operating a drug factory, and illegal transfer of a firearm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>During the execution of the search warrants, police seized over 1,100 grams of cocaine, three loaded handguns, a shotgun and approximately $70,000 in cash.<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazy lazy-hidden size-medium wp-image-105893 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/major-drug-ring-broken-with-arrests-in-ny-ct-mid-hudson-news.jpg\" data-lazy-type=\"image\" alt width=\"225\" height=\"300\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-105893 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/major-drug-ring-broken-with-arrests-in-ny-ct-mid-hudson-news.jpg\" alt width=\"225\" height=\"300\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Perez-Molina, Lopez, White, Mejia and Vega were arraigned with Perez-Molina and Mejia remanded without bail. Vega was released on her own recognizance despite the district attorney\u2019s request for bail. White and Lopez were released on their own recognizance because they are charged with offenses that are not bail-eligible under New York\u2019s current bail laws.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe sale of illegal drugs is among the worst problems in society today and illegal narcotics activity has a significant adverse impact on our communities,\u201d said District Attorney David Hoovler. \u201cThat activity is especially egregious when it crosses state lines, as it did in this case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The case was investigated by New York and Connecticut State Police, the Connecticut State\u2019s Attorney Office and Orange County DA\u2019s Office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4153818254338933\" data-ad-slot=\"1365899559\"><\/ins> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GOSHEN \u2013 Authorities in New York and Connecticut have arrested several people in connection with a long-term drug sale and possession operation. Dubbed \u201cOperation Off the Brick,\u201d the investigation involved the trafficking of cocaine in Orange County and Connecticut. Search warrants were executed at several locations in the Village of Otisville, the City of Middletown, Town of Blooming Grove and hamlet of Kerhonkson in Ulster County. Search warrants were also executed in Connecticut. Antonio Perez-Molina, 39, of Otisville, was arrested and charged with being a major drug trafficker as well as criminal sale of drugs, conspiracy and criminal possession of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/major-drug-ring-broken-with-arrests-in-ny-ct-mid-hudson-news.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}