LIBERTY — On Tuesday April 1^st, 2025 the Village of Liberty Police Department executed a search warrant at a residence on Champlin Avenue in the Village of Liberty. The search warrant was obtained as part of an ongoing investigation into sales of narcotics within the Village of Liberty.

As a result of the warrant Liberty Police Officers seized approximately 45 grams of crack cocaine and fentanyl as well as scales and United States currency. Arrested as a result of the investigation was Tyrone Hagans aka “Dirty T”, 48 of Liberty.

Hagans was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, possessing a narcotic drug weighing one-half ounce or more, both felonies and criminal use of drug paraphernalia in the 2^nd degree, a misdemeanor. Hagans was arraigned in the Town of Liberty Court and remanded to Sullivan County Jail without bail.

Hagans had previously been arrested by the Village of Liberty Police Department in August of 2024. At that time a Deputy Sheriff with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office was seriously injured in the course of effecting entry into the apartment while executing a search warrant.

Hagans at that time was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell in the 3^rd degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree and two counts of criminally using drug paraphernalia. Hagans had been initially remanded to the Sullivan County Jail without bail immediately following his arrest in that case.

Ten days later on September 9^th, 2024 Hagans was released from the Sullivan County Jail to pre-trial supervision also known as ATI or Alternatives to Incarceration by the Honorable Supreme Court Justice Stephan Schick. Those charges are currently still pending.

The Village of Liberty Police Department was assisted in the investigation by the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Police K-9 unit.

Chief of Police Steven D’Agata stated, “Our department conducted a thorough and extensive investigation into this defendant in the summer of 2024 as part of our attempt to stop the rampant flow of fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics into the streets of our community. Almost immediately following his arrest he was released back into the very same community, allowing him to continue to distribute poison onto our streets. Our department once again has invested considerable resources to investigate and re-arrest this individual while he was engaged in further dangerous criminal conduct while under the court’s jurisdiction and engaged in the Alternative to Incarceration pre-trial release program.

"Allowing this individual to continue to put our community at risk is an unacceptable “alternative” to the public safety necessity of incarceration. The opioid epidemic is a complex multifaceted societal problem. Combatting the opioid epidemic requires an equally multifaceted approach, including access to treatment, stigma reduction, and community collaboration and support. We will however, never be able to effectively turn the tide on this crisis until systemic changes are made to our criminal justice system and how we approach individuals who choose to profit off of the pain, suffering and death of our communities by distributing dangerous narcotics like fentanyl. It is no secret that bail reform has contributed to a public safety crisis, but it has also exacerbated the public health crisis devastating our County.”