Hoovler touts record gun bust, Medicaid fraud arrest in Orange County

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler used his 2025 annual report to put two investigations at the center of his case for results: an eight-month gun and drug trafficking probe that led to 20 charges, and a New Windsor Medicaid fraud arrest tied to more than $2.9 million in alleged theft.

The gun case, Operation Powder Burn, was announced July 30, 2025, and publicly detailed by the county on Aug. 1. Investigators said it brought together the Orange County Drug Task Force, the district attorney’s office, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and police departments in Middletown, Port Jervis and Newburgh, with support from DEA New York, the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit, the ATF-NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force and the New York City Police Department.

County officials said the investigation targeted an Iron Pipeline conspiracy that moved guns into Orange County mainly from Georgia and Pennsylvania. Undercover officers made controlled buys of 55 illegally possessed firearms, including handguns and assault weapons, and more than 700 grams combined of cocaine and fentanyl. The county said the fentanyl amount would have been enough to kill about 190,000 residents. Authorities made arrests in the Town of Wallkill and the City of Newburgh, and three defendants were still awaiting extradition from other states. Carl Henry, 52, of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was identified as wanted in the case. The county described the operation as the largest gun trafficking case in Orange County history.

Hoovler also pointed to the Medicaid case filed against Rohail Raja and Sharma Alam, both 45 and both of New Windsor. The couple was arrested Oct. 30, 2025, and charged with grand larceny in the first degree in connection with a scheme that ran from Feb. 1, 2020, through Aug. 30, 2024. Prosecutors alleged they stole more than $2.9 million through fraudulent claims submitted by two Medicaid transportation companies they owned, and state auditors said the Department of Health paid more than $2,008,000 for trips when provider records showed no visit had occurred.

The report also highlighted the Hudson Valley Arson and Explosives Task Force, created in 2024 with the ATF, the district attorney’s criminal investigations unit, and police in Montgomery, Woodbury and Warwick, along with the Orange County Division of Fire Services. Hoovler said the unit’s first year produced a 300 percent increase in detected arsons and was built to protect more than 400,000 residents in the region.

For Orange County’s criminal-justice system, the numbers Hoovler cited are his strongest evidence. The report says violent crime is down 13 percent since he took office in 2014 and property crime is down 37 percent. It also says all seven County Court trials in 2025 ended in felony convictions, compared with all nine County Court jury trials in 2024. The district attorney’s office prosecutes cases arising from investigations by 36 police agencies in the county and says it handles about 1,200 felony cases a year in County Court.