Kingston man pleads to drug charge

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> A Kingston man has pleaded guilty in Ulster County Court to criminal sale of a controlled substance in connection with the sale of fentanyl, Xylazine and cocaine, according to the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office.

The District Attorney’s office said Matthew Felton, 43, pleaded guilty to the felony charge before Judge Bryan Rounds in Ulster County Court on Thursday, March 21. Felton is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13.

The District Attorney’s Office said Felton was charged with narcotic sales after a long-term investigation by the Special Investigation Unit, a collaborative unit of the Kingston and town of Ulster police departments.

The District Attorney’s Office said a search warrant was executed at Felton’s apartment at 83 Green St. on Jan. 18 and authorities discovered cocaine, fentanyl and Xylazine, along with digital scales and other drug paraphernalia.

The District Attorney’s Office noted that Xylazine was declared an emerging threat by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and in July 2023 the White Office released a national response plan regarding the emerging threat of fentanyl mixed with Xyzaline.

“Xylazine is a horse tranquilizer, not intended for humans, and it does not take much to kill,” Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji said. “Fentanyl is widely known to be deadly.”

Anyone selling either one or a combination of the two is flirting not only with prosecution but death, he added.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tara Waters. Felton is represented by attorney Matt Mahan of Marlborough.