Four charges with cocaine sales

KINGSTON – The URGENT task force has arrested four people on several charges following a seven month investigation into cocaine sales in the northern Ulster County area.

Two of those arrested were indicted by an Ulster County grand jury and indictment warrants were issued for their arrest.

Four search warrants were executed at residents in the towns of Woodstock and Saugerties and two in the City of Kingston. Seized were two vehicles, some $7,000 in cash, cocaine, marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms.

One of those arrested, John Fredericks, was charged with bribe receiving and official misconduct after he used his status as a security guard at Ulster County Community College to run state Motor Vehicle information on undercover police vehicles and exchanged the information for money and drugs.

A second person arrested, Dominic Noonan, had a hand grenade, requiring a State Police bomb unit to respond and safely remove it.

Charged with a number of drug counts were Morgan Smith, 38, of Woodstock, John Staccio, 36, of Saugerties, Noonan and Fredericks.