Sentence handed down in cocaine conspiracy case

Posted 7/17/19

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Monday, July 10, 2019, Kenneth Nunez, 39, of Spring Valley, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to eight years …

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Sentence handed down in cocaine conspiracy case

Posted

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Monday, July 10, 2019, Kenneth Nunez, 39, of Spring Valley, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to eight years in prison, and five years post-release supervision, in connection with the enforcement action dubbed “Operation Bread, White and Blues”.

On April 24, Nunez pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree. At the time that he pleaded guilty, Nunez admitted to possessing more than four ounces of cocaine on December 29, 2018, which prosecutors argued he had transported into Orange County in furtherance of a conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Indictments arising from that enforcement action outlined two separate conspiracies, one of which primarily involves members and associates of self-professed “outlaw” motorcycle clubs trafficking cocaine, and another of which involves the sale of narcotic pills which were represented to contain oxycodone, but which contained fentanyl, a highly addictive and frequently lethal narcotic. The name of the operation referred to the co-conspirators use of the term “bread” to mean money they obtained through the sale of narcotics, “white” to represent the cocaine which was sold, and “blues” to represent the blue colored pills which were being trafficked. Most of the defendants in the action were arrested in a series of early morning raids and search warrant executions which occurred on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.

On February 5, 2019, members of the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team aided by the New York State Police Special Operations Response Team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had executed multiple search warrants and made over twenty arrests throughout Orange County, and Rockland County. The arrests and search warrant executions were as a result of a six-month-long narcotics investigation. Law enforcement officials recovered more than $200,000, 25 handguns, one assault rifle, multiple rifles, ten vehicles, two motorcycles, over 2.5 pounds of cocaine and 1300 Fentanyl pills.

On July 10, 2019, Tara Schoonmaker, 48, of Wurtsboro, pleaded guilty before Orange County Court Judge Craig Stephen Brown to Conspiracy in the Second Degree. At the time that she pleaded guilty, Schoonmaker admitted having agreed with others to sell pills containing narcotics. Schoonmaker faces up to three to nine years in prison when she is sentenced on August 26.

The New York State Police were assisted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.