By Jeanne Sager
MONTICELLO —March 14, 2006— Tips from the community resulted in two big drug busts for the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department this month.
According to Detective Don Starner, the department executed a warrant late Friday night into Saturday morning at 277 Mount Vernon Road in Summitville.
There Starner said they found 21-year-old Amber M. Tsoucala and boyfriend John Gutierrez, 26, along with “just shy of a pound of cocaine, just under a pound a marijuana, 30 tabs of ecstasy and one defaced Smith and Wesson handgun.”
Also recovered from the house was $10,000 in cash, a 32-inch flat screen television and a Dell computer.
The latter were reportedly stolen from the Delaware Valley High School in Westfall Township, Pa.
The couple are both facing a number of charges, among them a Class A-1 felony for criminal possession of a controlled substance (a charge that can carry a 25-year sentence in prison), criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of marijuana in the third degree and misdemeanor counts of criminal use of drug paraphernalia.
Starner said the couple may soon be facing felony charges of criminal possession of stolen property as well.
They were arraigned by Bloomingburg Village Justice Glenn Kroll and sent to Sullivan County Jail without bail.
This follows a drug bust just last week (Sunday, March 5), also on tips from the community.
Superior Roofing owner Florencio “Junior” Torres Jr., 29, was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, one with an intent to sell.
Torres was not home when police executed a search warrant at his White Lake home where they allegedly discovered an ounce of cocaine.
He turned himself in several days later and was remanded to Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail pending action in Town of Bethel Court.
The busts are a coup for the Sheriff’s Department – more drugs are off the streets of Sullivan County.
Sheriff Mike Schiff thanked the community for the part it plays in policework.
“Both of these search warrants came as a result of tips from concerned citizens in the community,” he said. “Our deputies did a great job of following up on this information.”