RECORD DRUG HAUL
10,000+ bags of heroin and fentanyl seized after arrest of Kingston man
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team on Tuesday announced what it said was its largest-ever drug bust: the seizure of more than 10,000 bags of heroin and fentanyl in connection with the arrest of a Kingston man.
URGENT said Timothy L. Schleede, 29, of Kingston, was arrested last week after an investigation that began in early August. Schleede was identified as a person of interest in the sale of heroin and fentanyl at hotels and motels in the town of Ulster, and he was seen by members of URGENT engaging in several open-air transactions at one of the hotels, including one to an undercover police officer, authorities said during a press conference Tuesday at the Ulster County
Law Enforcement Center.
Schleede’s arrest was announced a day after Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan declared a public health emergency due to the recent spike in fentanyl-related deaths in the county. Ryan said local opioid-related deaths between January and July 2020 were 171% higher than during the same period in 2019.
Ryan said Tuesday that of the county’s 38 opioid fatalities this year, 34 were definitely linked to fentanyl and the other four probably were, though details were pending.
Schleede was taken into custody in the early hours of Aug. 27 and charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class A felony, authorities said. They said additional charges are pending before a grand jury.
After Schleede’s arrest, about 2,500 bags of heroin and fentanyl were found in his hotel room and, after a second search warrant was executed, about 7,500 additional bags of heroin and fentanyl were discovered at a second location associated with Schleede, authorities said.
Detective Lt. Abram D. Markiewicz of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said the total of 10,000 bags was a “conservative count.”
“Those 10,000 bags total of heroin and fentanyl recovered were packaged and ready for immediate sale within Ulster County,” URGENT Task Force Commander Jarrid Blades said at the press conference. “This was the largest heroin-fentanyl bust that we’ve had .... ”
Said Ryan: “To think about 10,000 packets of ready-to-go fentanyl and heroin seized, to think about the lives that that would undoubtedly be saved right here in Ulster County, I’m proud, and I give such credit and thanks to URGENT and to the district attorney (Ulster County DA David Clegg).”
“Since 2007, the countywide URGENT Task Force has worked tirelessly to disrupt the free trade of narcotics in our community,” Blades said. “This has included close coordination with local detectives, local police agencies, the state police and neighboring agencies, including those outside of Ulster County. The sheer amount of narcotics that was seized is the proof that our approach is working.”
Schleede was arraigned in Ulster Town Court and sent to the Ulster County
Jail without bail, having violated the terms of release in a pending case in the town of Ulster, authorities said.
Authorities did not identify the motels and hotels where Schleede allegedly sold drugs, or the hotel where he had a room.
Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa said at Tuesday’s press conference that “what URGENT has done and ORACLE (Opioid Response As County Law Enforcement)
has done is absolutely amazing. Just this year alone, we have almost doubled the amount the arrests in regards to opioid investigations.”
Noting the rise in local overdoses and in fatalities, Figueroa said his office has “partnered up with the [Ryan’s] office and the Department of Health.”
Clegg said the “scourge of fentanyl-laced heroin … is plaguing our community.”
“What we want everybody out there to know is that we are all vigilant and all working all the time to try and make this community a safer place,” he said.
Ryan said he spent 90 minutes Monday night talking to relatives of Ulster County residents who lost their lives to opioids, particularly fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is 50 times more deadly than heroin and 100 times more deadly than morphine,” he said at the Tuesday press conference. “We want … to send the message, loud and clear, that we have zero tolerance in Ulster County for any of these opioids, particularly fentanyl, that is coming in from largely outside our area.”
In a related matter, Ryan said he spoke Tuesday morning to the leadership of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley about bringing back to Kingston the dozens of inpatient mental health and detox services were moved to a sister hospital in Poughkeepsie early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Several months ago, I raised concern, along with other leaders in our community, about what was initially talked about as a temporary move of 40 mental health beds and 20 detox beds [from] HealthAlliance,” Ryan said. He said he stressed to HealthAlliance officials on Tuesday that “more than ever, with what’s happening in our county, we need those inpatient beds back immediately. That’s something that I’m focused on, and the [Ulster County] health commissioner is focused on, and we know we need to get it fixed immediately. To have those critical inpatient services removed at this time is unacceptable.”