A city fire official from upstate New York allegedly used a firehouse to sell drugs as part of a conspiracy involving more than two dozen people linked to the trafficking of fentanyl and cocaine.

Lt. Paul Smith, 48, of the Middletown Fire Department has been charged with being a major drug trafficker as the ringleader of a cocaine-dealing motorcycle club and another operation that sold pills containing fentanyl in upstate New York, state police said Tuesday.

Smith was among 29 people charged in the culmination of a six-month drug investigation, police said.

Most were arrested in early morning raids in Orange and Rockland counties.

A city fire official from upstate New York allegedly used a firehouse to sell drugs and hold meetings to further a conspiracy involving more than two dozen people linked to the trafficking of fentanyl and cocaine

A total of 29 people were arrested after a six-month investigation by New York State police

Lt. Paul Smith, 48, of the Middletown Fire Department has been charged with being a major drug trafficker as the ringleader of a cocaine-dealing motorcycle club and another operation that sold pills containing fentanyl in upstate New York, state police said Tuesday

Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano said Smith, a 19-year veteran with a prominent role as shift supervisor and training officer, was immediately suspended without pay.

'It's very disturbing that a man sworn to save lives is at the epicenter of a drug ring aimed at destroying lives,' DeStefano said, noting that some of the drug deals were allegedly made at the fire house.

He said the city is conducting its own investigation.

Officials did not have the name of Smith's lawyer to comment on his behalf.

A former town police officer was also among those arrested.

The raids recovered more than $200,000 in cash, 25 handguns, multiple rifles, ten vehicles, two motorcycles, more than 2.5 pounds of cocaine and 1,300 fentanyl pills, police said.

State police said the investigation targeted two separate operations.

One involved members and associates of self-described 'outlaw' motorcycle clubs trafficking cocaine and the other involved the sale of pills marketed as oxycodone but actually containing highly addictive and often lethal fentanyl.

The FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency assisted in the investigation.

The raids recovered more than $200,000 in cash, 25 handguns, multiple rifles, ten vehicles, two motorcycles, more than 2.5 pounds of cocaine and 1,300 fentanyl pills, police said

The scheme operated as two separate drug rings connected by two men, according to authorities.

Smith, a resident of Deerpark, and volunteer Mechanicstown firefighter Robert Dunham Jr, 46, of Middletown allegedly received the drugs from suppliers and distributed them to others, according to the Times Herald-Record.

He allegedly used Middletown’s Central Firehouse to conduct the affairs of the trafficking ring, though authorities say that no other local firefighters are suspects.

'Essentially, the firehouse was used at times by him to make sales and hold meetings,' Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said.

Smith and Dunham are alleged to have provided cocaine to members of two Middletown-based outlaw biker gangs, the Burnt Pistons and the Chingalings.

The head of the Burnt Prisons, John Beltempo, 49, of New Windsor, was also arrested.

Beltempto is a former police officer with Spring Valley, Town of Wallkill and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

George Thomas, 61, of Bloomingburg, is the president of Chingaling. He, too, is a former police officer, according to authorities.

Authorities say one of the rings sold counterfeit oxycodone pills made from fentanyl, while the other sold cocaine.

The police investigation was given the code name 'Operation: Bread, White and Blues.'

Investigators said the defendants referred to money as 'bread'; cocaine was 'white'; and the pills were 'blues.'

'Many of the people buying these pills thought they were buying OxyContin,' Hoovler said.

The defendants were arraigned over the course of Tuesday in Orange County Court. Bails ranged from $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond for a woman who turned herself in to police. The top defendants’ bail was set at $1million or $3million bond

Smith and two others - Garry Michel, 48, of Wallkill, and Marquis Gamble, 34, of Nyack - have been charged with operating as a major trafficker, a felony whose maximum penalty is 25 years to life in prison.

They are alleged to have sold more than $75,000 worth of illicit drugs in a six-month period.

All 29 defendants have been charged with second-degree conspiracy, a felony.

Michel is alleged to have supplied the pills to Smith and Dunham as well as to street-level dealers.

Authorities say Michel used his girlfriend’s home in Chester as a stash house.

Gamble is alleged to have supplied the cocaine to Smith, who then distributed it to Dunham and another co-conspirator, Joel Gamble, 44, of Cuddebackville.

Smith is also alleged to have distributed cocaine to members of the two biker gangs.

One of the ‘street level’ pill dealers was Mechanicstown Fire Chief Dominic Guardino, 55, of Wallkill.

Authorities allege Guardino used his official, department-issued car to obtain piills.

Hoovler said the alleged conspiracies were ‘very sophisticated’ because of the use of counter-surveillance and methods to avoid detection.

He said that the investigation by State police was handled ‘on a very clandestine level, because of the people involved, because of the possibility of leaks.’

The defendants were arraigned over the course of Tuesday in Orange County Court.

Bails ranged from $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond for a woman who turned herself in to police.

The top defendants’ bail was set at $1million or $3million bond.

Smith was ordered held without bail.

THE DEFENDANTS Paul Smith, 48, of Deerpark Robert Dunham, 46, of Middletown Marquis Gable, 34, of Nyack John Beltempo, 49, of New Windsor Kenneth Nunez, 39, of Spring Valley Garry Michel, 48, of Wallkill Joel Gamble, 44, of Cuddebackville Samuel Marino, 30, of Campbell Hall Arthur Mays, 30, of Middletown George Thomas, 61, of Bloomingburg David Lebel, 55, of Middletown Jennifer Peterson, 46, of Chester Vincenza Ferrante, 35, of New Windsor Shawn Daniels, 52, of Monroe Salvatore DiStefano, 36, of Westtown Melissa Delrosso, 35, of Middletown Raymond Chong, 49, of Middletown Tara Schoonmaker, 48, of Wurtsboro Crystal Crozier, 36, of Middletown Donald Johnston, 46, of Middletown Anthony Fields, 44, of Middletown Desmon Pierson, 36, of Middletown Dominick Guardino, 55, of Middletown Sunshine Wall, 40, of Cuddebackville Nicholas Ciccone, 47, of Port Jervis Charles Kavanaugh, 31, of Newburgh Gary Caldwell, 33, of Wappingers Justin Antona, 27, of Slate Hill Andrew Bendig, 23, of Middletown Advertisement



