The People will Recommend Andrew Mitchell be Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison

 Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that Andrew Mitchell, a/k/a “Loc,” age 49, of Chester, pled guilty in Orange County Court to Operating as a Major Trafficker. Mitchell was arrested as a result of an over four-month-long investigation designed to disrupt major narcotics trafficking in the City of Port Jervis and surrounding areas, including Pike County, Pennsylvania.  The investigation, dubbed “Operation Final Blow,” was initially started by the City of Port Jervis Police Department, the Orange County Drug Task Force, the New York State Police Violent Gang and Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Pike County Criminal Investigations Division of the Pike County District Attorney’s Office, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and included the use of court ordered eavesdropping, as well as the execution of seventeen search warrants.  Other law enforcement agencies who provided crucial aid in the investigation included the Town of Deerpark Police Department, the City of Middletown Police Department, the Town of Wallkill Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, the Sussex County Guns, Gang and Narcotics Taskforce, and the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office.  Federal agencies who aided in the operation included Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), the FBI’s Safe Streets Taskforce and the United States Marshall’s Service Fugitive Task Force. 

Search warrants executed during the investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately two kilograms of cocaine, 74 grams of heroin, 165 grams of fentanyl, 1,600 ecstasy pills and 235 pills containing oxycodone, as well as seven illegally possessed firearms and $153,690. Eleven automobiles, four motorcycles and two ATVs were also taken into evidence.  At the plea proceedings, Mitchell admitted that, acting as a profiteer, he sold, on one or more occasions within six months or less, cocaine, and the proceeds collected or due from such sale or sales had a total aggregate value of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) or more.

Under the plea agreement announced on the record at the time that Mitchell pled guilty, the People will recommend that he be sentenced to thirteen (13) years in prison to be followed by five (5) years post-release supervision when he is sentenced on December 6, 2024.  As part of the disposition, Mitchell will also forfeit two luxury vehicles as proceeds or instrumentalities of his crimes.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked all the state, local and federal law enforcement officials who aided in the investigation and eventual apprehension of Mitchell.

“The consistent results we see in long-term drug investigations are a testament to the dedication of the assigned police and prosecutors,” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “My Office remains laser-focused on the investigation and prosecution of high-ranking drug dealers who spread their poison in Orange County. Operation Final Blow helped to disrupt the flow of narcotics being trafficked in the western part of Orange County by bringing the higher-level dealers, including this defendant, to justice.  I commend the cooperation amongst the varied law enforcement agencies who conducted a careful investigation that led to the conviction of this defendant.”

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Alexis Gregory.

This criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.