Press release from District Attorney Jim Farrell:

District Attorney Jim Farrell announced today that Ronald Smith, aka “Tubbs”, 45, of Fallsburg, was sentenced in Sullivan County Court by Judge Frank LaBuda to a total aggregate sentence of 35 years to life in state prison for convictions of Conspiracy in the 2nd and 4th Degrees, felonies, Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 2nd Degree, a class A-2 felony, four counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd Degree, class B felonies, and Tampering with Physical Evidence, a felony.  Smith was convicted after a five day trial in Sullivan County Court in June of 2018.  Farrell, who personally prosecuted this case, said the jury deliberated for about thirty minutes before rendering its verdict convicting Smith of all counts.  “Smith was the leader and proven kingpin of this organization and was responsible for distributing large quantities of the deadly drug heroin in our community. He was a merchant of despair, suffering, pain, addiction and death. With all the havoc heroin is wreaking on our community with overdose deaths, hospitalizations and addiction, this sentence was particularly appropriate.  Smith has demonstrated that, when he is at liberty in the community, he is a clear and present danger to our community.  The sentence handed down today validates all of the hard work of  all of law enforcement in this County and we have now shut down Smith’s heroin business forever,” Farrell said. 

Smith was arrested on September 18, 2017, at his apartment in the Laurel Garden Apartments after a lengthy investigation by the New York State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET).  The State Police narcotics unit was assisted in the investigation by the Fallsburg Police, the Sullivan County DA’s office, New York State Police BCI and uniform division at SP Liberty, Monticello Police, Liberty Police, Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the New Jersey State Police.  Farrell said that the execution of a search warrant on September 18, 2017, revealed Smith’s possession of over 20 bricks of heroin (1,000 bags) in the apartment and 31 bricks of heroin (1,550 bags) in a stash location in the Village of Liberty.  During the course of the investigation, State Police also purchased approximately 900 bags of heroin from a co-conspirator and accomplice.  Smith was convicted of conspiring to sell over a ½ ounce of heroin, and possession of the heroin found in the apartment and the stash location.  He was also found guilty of offering for sale over a ½ ounce of heroin to an undercover police officer and tampering with physical evidence by throwing twenty bags of heroin out a bedroom window after the warrant team breached the door.  Farrell also said that Smith was brazenly running his drug trafficking business while detained at the Sullivan County Jail on a parole violation and was utilizing his son to run the business while he was incarcerated. 

“I am extremely pleased with the Court’s sentence in this case.  The evidence in this case clearly established that this defendant was the head of a significant and organized heroin trafficking organization that was responsible for putting thousands of bags of heroin on our streets.  He was brazenly running the drug operation from behind bars while detained at the Sullivan County Jail on a parole hold.  He certainly deserved a life sentence in this case, especially given his criminal history which included five prior felonies – all involving narcotics.  All of these police agencies worked collectively to bring down this organization and stop the flow of heroin from New Jersey to Sullivan County.  The cooperation of these multiple agencies and the leadership of the New York State Police CNET led to the successful outcome in this case and underscores our commitment and determination to address the heroin crisis in Sullivan County.  CNET’s talented police officers are making a difference in Sullivan County.  We will continue to target those individuals who peddle this poison on our streets and seek to hold these individuals responsible and accountable through detection, investigation and prosecution,” Farrell said. 

Farrell said he urged LaBuda to find that Smith was a persistent felony offender (“three strikes” law) and enhance Smith’s sentence to life imprisonment given the seriousness of the crimes committed and Smith’s prior criminal record and the clear and present danger smith poses to our community. Smith was previously convicted of five different drug felonies including, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 4th Degree, a class C felony, in 2012 in Orange County Court; Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 5th Degree, a class D felony, in Kings County Court in 2006; Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd Degree: Narcotic Intent to Sell, a class B felony, in 2001 in Sullivan County Court; Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 5th Degree, a class D felony, in 1999 in Sullivan County Court; and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 5th Degree, a class D felony, in 1997 in Sullivan County Court.  Farrell said that Smith received a state prison sentence on each of his prior felonies, and had spent the better part of the last 20 years in prison and was also on parole for his most recent drug conviction when the conspiracy commenced in February of 2017.  “None of the previous sentences deterred Smith in the least, with his second felony arrest in 1999 coming just four days after he was first released on parole”, Farrell said.  Judge LaBuda referenced Smith’s own words from the persistent felony offender when he stated that on his last felony conviction following his parole “the streets are over for me.” Judge LaBuda said to Smith, “The Streets are indeed over for you, and you will never again walk those streets as a free man.”  In his handing down the life sentence, Judge Labuda called Smith a “mentor of crime and evil and a pariah in our society” and that as a result of defendant’s actions in this case and his life of crime “he must be removed from our society forevermore and . . . it is my clear purpose in this sentencing that Mr. Smith’s life as an organized trafficker of heroin, is dead, and he will never have the opportunity to traffic in heroin again in his lifetime.”