Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, January 23, 2023, Jason Mendoza, age 25, of Otisville, was sentenced in Orange County Court to eight years in state prison, and five years post-release supervision, on the charge of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree.
On December 12, 2021, at approximately 4 a.m. a person was observed on closed circuit television cameras firing approximately five shots from a handgun in the vicinity of 428 North Street in the Town of Wallkill. Police obtained that recording and identified the shooter as Jason Mendoza. On October 17, 2022, Mendoza admitted possessing the loaded and operable handgun at that time and pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. The Town of Wallkill Police Department, aided by the City of Middletown Police investigated the case and arrested Mendoza.
Mendoza was also sentenced to one to three years in state prison for having committed the crime of Robbery in the Third Degree. At the time that Mendoza pleaded guilty on that charge on October 17, 2022, he admitted that on May 22, 2022, at approximately 6 p.m., near the intersection of Chattel Steet and Linden Avenue, in the City of Middletown, he stole $40.00 from the hand of an Uber driver with whom he had just been involved in a minor traffic accident. When the driver tried to grab Mendoza’s hand to prevent him from stealing money from his car, Mendoza punched the driver in the face. The City of Middletown Police Department investigated that incident and arrested Mendoza. The Court ordered the two sentences to run consecutively so that Mendoza’s combined sentence is nine to twelve years in State Prison.
Hoovler thanked the Town of Wallkill Police Department and City of Middletown Police Department for their investigations and the arrests of Mendoza.
“Those who carry illegal weapons will inevitably engage in violence,” Hoovler. “My office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to see that those who illegally carry or use illegally possessed firearms on our streets receive meaningful sentences of incarceration.”
Both cases against Mendoza were prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Kelle Grimmer.