Newburgh man sentenced to 12 years in Orange County gun, drug case

A Newburgh man prosecutors said sat at the center of a gun-and-drug network that used a food truck as cover was sentenced to 12 years in state prison, a punishment that capped one of the largest trafficking cases in Orange County history.

Kirkland Salmon, 44, of Newburgh, was sentenced in Orange County Court on April 21 to an aggregate term of 12 years, followed by five years of post-release supervision. Orange County also said Salmon agreed to forfeit a vehicle and the food truck that prosecutors said were used as proceeds or instrumentalities of the crimes.

Prosecutors said the investigation showed Salmon was at the center of four different conspiracies, with cocaine supplied by Owen Beckford, also identified as Marvin Ottley, and Joshua Arnold, and firearms supplied by Andre Smith for resale. The food truck was parked in the City of Newburgh, and county officials said it had been used to distribute drugs, in one account placing it just feet from the City of Newburgh Courthouse.

The case, known as Operation Hot Lunch, brought together the Orange County Drug Task Force, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the district attorney’s office, Middletown police, New York State Police, Poughkeepsie police and the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center. Authorities said the six-month probe recovered 24 firearms and 1 kilogram of cocaine before the takedown, and on May 21, 2024, police seized more than 11 kilograms of cocaine, about 90 grams of fentanyl, seven guns, high-capacity magazines, ammunition, about $45,000 in cash, scales, packaging materials and 10 vehicles.

Orange County officials have described Operation Hot Lunch as the county’s largest gun and narcotics trafficking case, saying it dismantled a cocaine ring worth roughly $3 million a year. The investigation initially led to 33 defendants being charged, while county updates later said 26 people were arrested, with some others pending extradition or in ICE custody, underscoring the regional reach of the network.

Salmon’s sentence followed other major prison terms in the same case, including five to 10 years for Russell Knight in March 2025, 15 years for Beckford in January 2026 and 12 years for William Pulley in March 2026. In December 2024, prosecutors Alexis Gregory and Amanda Bettinelli received Federal Law Enforcement Foundation Prosecutor of the Year awards for their work on the case, a sign of how closely county leaders tied the operation to broader public safety efforts in Newburgh and across Orange County.