Community Corner

'Major' Drug Dealer Busted, Police Seize $27,000 Worth of Heroin

A 27-year-old Jefferson Valley man, who police believe to be "a major dealer of heroin in northern Westchester and Putnam," was arrested Wednesday night following a four-month investigation, police said. 

Tyrone Hammonds, of 620 East Main Street, was the target of a joint investigation by the Westchester County Police Narcotics Unit, the Yorktown Police Department Detective Division and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Unit.

Hammonds fled when members of the Westchester County Police Narcotics Unit approached him on May 22 at about 11:15 p.m. in a gas station parking lot on the north side of Route 6 in Jefferson Valley. He fled across Route 6, but was captured after a foot chase through the parking lot at the Jefferson Valley Mall.

Following Hammonds’ arrest, officers executed a search warrant at his apartment and recovered 230 envelopes of heroin packaged for individual sale; a bag containing an additional 1.8 ounces of heroin in bulk, scales, thousands of small glassine envelopes used to package heroin and stamps used to brand the packages of heroin.

“We believe this person was a major dealer of heroin in northern Westchester and Putnam,” Public Safety Commissioner George N. Longworth said in a statement. “Our communities are safer because this operation was shut down and I commend the investigators from all the agencies involved for their tremendous work.”

The heroin that was seized has a street value of about $27,000, police said. Hammonds had $2,000 in cash in his possession when he was arrested; an additional $16,000 in cash was found in his apartment.

“The Westchester County Police is committed to working with our law enforcement partners in the area to combat the distribution and sale of heroin and other illegal narcotics," Longworth said.

Hammonds was charged with multiple counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance (intent to sell) and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, all felonies. 

He was booked at county police headquarters in Hawthorne and held overnight pending arraignment on Thursday in Yorktown Town Court.


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