2 more defendants sentenced in Orange County gun-and-drug case

Two more defendants in Orange County’s sprawling Operation Powder Burn case have pleaded guilty in Orange County Court in Goshen, adding fresh prison terms to the county’s largest gun trafficking investigation. With the new pleas, at least two of the 20 people charged in the case have now admitted guilt, while prosecutors continue to work through the remaining defendants.

Shomaray Lane, 33, of Newburgh, pleaded guilty on June 12 to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree. Under the deal, he is expected to be sentenced on August 5 to nine years in state prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision. Lane also forfeited $42,132 and a vehicle, and admitted selling more than two ounces of cocaine.

Dijoun Lawrence, 23, of Georgia, pleaded guilty on June 26 to criminal sale of a firearm in the first degree and conspiracy in the fourth degree. He is expected to be sentenced on August 12 to 13 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Lawrence admitted that he supplied firearms from Georgia for sale in New York, a detail that fits the “iron pipeline” case prosecutors have described.

District Attorney David Hoovler has said Operation Powder Burn grew out of an eight-month investigation into firearms and narcotics trafficking that led to charges against 20 people. Officials said the probe uncovered 55 illegally possessed firearms bought through controlled buys, along with more than $65,000 in cash and more than 1.5 kilos of cocaine and fentanyl. Other tallies put the weapon haul at nearly 70 firearms, or 67 total weapons.

The case has also stretched beyond Orange County. Investigators said some of the guns moved through the interstate pipeline from Georgia and Pennsylvania, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said some weapons were later linked to seven shootings in New York and Vermont. Three of the charged defendants were still awaiting extradition from other states, and Carl Henry of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, remained wanted.

Hoovler and the operation’s law-enforcement partners, including the Orange County Drug Task Force, sheriff’s office, ATF, DEA, state police, the ATF NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force and police departments in Middletown, Port Jervis and Newburgh, have portrayed the case as a coordinated strike on a gun-and-drug network rather than a string of isolated arrests. County officials have not put forward any countywide measure showing a drop in violence or trafficking, but the case continues to move through Goshen as prosecutors turn the investigation into convictions, prison time and long-term supervision.