Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell announced that Shawn Whittaker, 43, of South Fallsburg, N.Y., was sentenced on January 6 in Sullivan County Court to a term of 10 years in state prison, to be followed by 3 years of post-release supervision, for two counts of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd Degree, class B felonies. Whittaker admitted to selling heroin on two different occasion in May of 2014 in the Town of Fallsburg.

Farrell said Whittaker was arrested after an joint investigation led by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department into the sale and distribution of both heroin and cocaine in the Towns of Fallsburg and Thompson. Assisting the Sheriff’s Department in their investigation was the Town of Fallburg Police, the Monticello Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Whittaker was sentenced as a second felony offender having a previous conviction in 2005 in Sullivan County for Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 5th Degree, a class D felony, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison.

Farrell said: “Our county has not been immune from the scourge of the heroin epidemic plaguing our country and my office and our partners in law enforcement will continue to investigate, apprehend and vigorously prosecute those people who sell this dangerous poison in our community. Dealers of heroin and other dangerous narcotics should take heed that we will bring the joint resources of all of our collective agencies to bear and we will continue to systematically dismantle your drug trafficking operations and you will be held accountable. The sentence handed down today on Whittaker shows that we will continue to put heroin and cocaine dealers out of business and make sure they receive justice in court and incarceration in a state prison.”

Farrell praised the work of the Sheriff’s Department, who continue to successfully investigate the distribution of heroin and other dangerous narcotics and their collaboration with other agencies, and Assistant District Attorney Eamonn Neary who prosecuted this case for the DA’s office.