Monticello Man Sentenced to 17 years in prison for robbery, drugs

Cocaine and Heroin Sales and Solicitation

Richard Drayton, 25, of Monticello, N.Y. was sentenced in Sullivan County Court today to a total of 17 years in state prison and 5 years post release supervision for robbery, drug sales and criminal solicitation charges. 

  Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell said that Drayton was convicted after a jury trial, in December of 2016, of robbery, a violent felony, and conspiracy, a felony.   Drayton, was found guilty, acting together and in concert with others, of robbing an individual inside the Shaker Heights housing complex in the Village of Monticello at about 10:40 pm on January 7, 2016.

 During the robbery, Drayton displayed what appeared to be a firearm, threatening the victim, while he and his brother Frank Drayton, went through the victim’s pockets, stealing, among other items, cash and a cellular telephone.   Frank was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the robbery just prior to the jury returning its guilty verdicts with respect to his brother, Richard. 

Evidence gathered by police following the robbery established that the gun brandished by this defendant was likely a starter pistol, a fact that could not have been known to the victim at the time of the robbery. Farrell said his office utilized DNA found on clothing the defendant wore during the robbery and on a pistol magazine found after he eluded the police after a foot pursuit.  Police also found Richard’s wallet and social security card in the vehicle that he and his accomplices fled in after the robbery prior to the foot pursuit.  

Farrell said that while awaiting trial on the robbery, Richard sent a letter to another man from the jail requesting that he kill a witness to the robbery.  Richard pled guilty to criminal solicitation, and admitted his solicitation of Benjamin Drayton in April of 2016.  In addition, Farrell said that Richard also previously pled guilty to two counts for selling heroin in August 2014, and selling cocaine in July 2014 to an undercover police officer in the Town of Thompson during an investigation by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office.  Richard was out on bail on these drug sale charges when the robbery he was convicted of was committed.

Richard was sentenced as a second felony offender on each of the charges, after a hearing was conducted, and the Court declared that his prior breaking and entering conviction in Durham Superior Court in North Carolina in 2011 required him to be sentenced as a second felony offender.  Farrell said that Drayton was also convicted of the larceny of a firearm, also a felony, in North Carolina in 2012.

DA Farrell said, “My office, in recommending the sentence we thought appropriate, asked the Court to sentence Richard Drayton to an aggregate total of 28 ½ years to 35 ½ years in prison.  We requested a  sentence of 10 years for his sales of heroin and cocaine, a sentence of 15 years for the violent robbery and a sentence of 3 ½ to 7 years on the solicitation to kill a witness, with all those sentences to run consecutively.  This defendant sold heroin and cocaine to an undercover officer, he engaged in a violent robbery with what appeared to be a pistol and then, when faced with this robbery charge, from jail, attempted to solicit a relative to kill a witness.  This defendant perpetrated very serious crimes and our recommendation reflected the seriousness of these actions.  While my office would have preferred a different and more lengthy sentence, ultimately the judge determined a sentence of 5 years on the narcotics sales with a consecutive sentence of 12 years on the robbery/conspiracy and a concurrent 3 ½ to 7 on the solicitation, for a total of 17 years in prison, was appropriate and we are pleased that Drayton will be behind bars for a significant number of years.”

Farrell praised the work of Chief Assistant District Attorney Meagan Galligan, who prosecuted the robbery and solicitation cases for the DA’s Office, and the FBI’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, the Village of Monticello Police Department, the New York State Police, the Village of Liberty Police Department, and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, who jointly investigated the robbery and solicitation cases following the Sheriff’s investigation of the narcotics sales case. Farrell further thanked the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center for its assistance with these investigations.   Farrell said, “Law enforcement working together has always been a success and this case is no different.  Every agency made a substantial contribution to these successful prosecutions and as a result Drayton has been held accountable and responsible.”