Chester man pleads guilty to being a ‘major trafficker’

On Friday, September 27, Andrew “Loc” Mitchell, 49, of Chester pled guilty in Orange County Court to operating as a major trafficker, Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced. Mitchell was arrested as part of a more than four-month-long investigation into a narcotics trafficking operation in Port Jervis and surrounding areas, including Pike County, Pennsylvania.

In his announcement, Hoovler said the investigation, “Operation Final Blow,” was initially started by the 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 and 17 search warrants.

Through the use of search warrants, investigators allegedly recovered about 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. They also seized 11 automobiles, four motorcycles and two ATVs. At the plea proceedings, Mitchell admitted that while “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 $75,000 or more,” the announcement noted.

Hoovler’s team will recommend that he be sentenced to 13 years in prison to be followed by five years of post-release supervision when he is sentenced on December 6, 2024. As part of the disposition, Mitchell will also forfeit two luxury vehicles considered “proceeds or instrumentalities of his crimes.”

District Attorney Hoovler thanked all law enforcement officials who aided in the investigation, which also 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; the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office; Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”); the FBI’s Safe Streets Taskforce; and the United States Marshall’s Service Fugitive Task Force.

“The consistent results we see in long-term drug investigations are a testament to the dedication of the assigned police and prosecutors,” said 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.”