Crime & Safety

Police: Putnam Man Sold Cocaine in Patterson, Southeast

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office provided the following information. It does not indicate a conviction.

A Patterson man, 31, is facing charges in connection with the alleged sale of cocaine in the area—and a search of his home yielded more than $8,000 in drugs, according to authorities.

Following a three-month investigation into a tip, officials arrested Thomas J. Salese while he was driving on Route 312 in Southeast,  Donald B. Smith said in a statement released Friday. Salese is facing the following felonies: five counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree; six counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree; and criminal possession of marijuana in the third degree.

"In early February of this year, an undercover investigator assigned to the Sheriff’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit developed information that Thomas J. Salese was selling cocaine to others at various locations throughout the area," Smith said in the release. "The investigator was able to infiltrate Mr. Salese’s operation and purchase varying quantities of the drug from him on five occasions."

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Following the arrest, investigators executed a search warrant at the defendant's home. They confiscated more than 100 baggies of cocaine, valued at about $8,000; $1,500 worth of marijuana; more than $4,000 in cash; and a 2010 Hyundai sedan, police said. 

Salese was arraigned before Patterson Town Justice Anthony R. Molé. He was remanded to the Putnam County Correctional Facility on $50,000 cash bail, which he later posted. He will be due in court at a later time.

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