DA announces ‘largest gun trafficking case in Orange County history’

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced the arrests of some 20 individuals last week stemming from an eight-month gun and drug running investigation that spanned multiple states and involved local, state and federal agencies.

“We are here today to announce arrests in the largest gun trafficking case in Orange County history,” Hoovler said Aug. 1 at a press conference. “Over 67 total weapons were obtained, $65,000 in cash, over a kilo and a half of cocaine and fentanyl - enough fentanyl to kill 190,000 residents of Orange County). The 20 [defendants] on the boards to my immediate left are nothing more than merchants of death. Some of them sell guns and some of them sell drugs.”

The investigation – dubbed Operation Powder Burn – targeted an “iron pipeline” through which firearms were trafficked illegally into Orange County from Georgia and Pennsylvania, which have fewer firearms regulations, and sold illegally in the City of Newburgh as part of the local drug trade. Hoovler said the weapons entered New York via Federal Express.

“Investigators from Orange County worked with our partners here, in Georgia, Pennsylvania and at the federal level to conduct arrests,” Hoovler said. “What began as a drug operation expanded when wiretaps uncovered the weapons aspect. We made the arrests July 30 after the defendants were intercepted talking about robbing or harming our undercovers.”

The district attorney stressed that the guns removed did not belong to enthusiasts, collectors or law-abiding individuals. Bryan Miller, special agent in charge at the ATF’s New York field division, said some of the weapons have been linked to shootings in New York and Vermont.

The defendant at the center of Operation Powder Burn is Chris Brown, 40, of Newburgh, who is accused of trafficking drugs and firearms out of The Kitchen, a closed down restaurant at 132 South St. in Newburgh. Hit with multiple charges, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

As of last week, police were searching for Carl Henry, 52, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., who is charged with conspiracy, criminal possession of a firearm and criminal sale of a firearm.

One of the defendants at the heart of the investigation is 22-year old Dejuan Lawrence, who was living in Stone Mountain, Ga., when he was arrested July 30.

“This case involved an individual unlawfully present in the United States who used commercial shipping services to send firearms to a violent convicted felon,” Miller said.

A spokesperson for the ATF said the Jamaican national illegally crossed into the United States in 2023, was ordered removed from the country in November of 2024 by an immigration judge but did not leave. He is to be placed into custody of ICE, which has a detainer on him, after any prison time he may or may not serve related to Operation Powder Burn.