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A man arrested in North Granville last month in connection with heroin possession pleaded guilty to a felony charge Friday sending him to prison for up to four years, officials said.
Vincent Garulli, 21, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said Monday.
The grand jury handed up the indictment March 17 and Garulli went to court the next day to enter the plea; he will be sentenced April 15.
Kortright said as part of the plea deal Garulli has waived his right to appeal.
Garulli agreed to a sentence of four years in state prison which will be followed by another two years of parole, Kortright said.
Authorities said they long suspected Garulli was Granville-area heroin dealer who sold the drug to support his own habit.
Police observed Garulli on two separate occasions selling heroin Feb. 15 and Feb. 17, which led to the search warrant executed Feb. 22, Kortright said.
From each sale Garulli faced two felony charges for criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance as well as a third criminal possession charge for heroin found during the raid.
When the Washington County Drug Task Force raided the North Granville home where Garulli was living he was found with heroin paraphernalia, $500 in cash and 36 individual sale-sized bags.
“His name has been around for a while now that’s why I’m glad he’s going off to prison,” Kortright said. “That should quiet things down in his neck of the woods for a while.”
The raid eventually yielded a second arrest as Allison Cosey, 18, Garulli’s girlfriend, was arrested days after the raid.
The grand jury handed up and indictment against Cosey for the same charges on the same day, Kortright said.
Cosey has not entered a plea, Kortright said.
Arrests like this one come from teamwork between numerous law enforcement agencies crossing numerous borders including town and county lines, Kortright said.
“The drug task force has been working very well and it seems like there have been more arrests than ever before,” Kortright said.
The district attorney said stopping heroin dealers and drug dealers in general is a big priority as drugs often fuel other crimes such as burglaries. Cooperation between all local law enforcement agencies in conjunction with the task force is critical, he said.
“I give all the credit in the world to the local police chiefs, like Ernie Bassett, for working well together (with the task force),” Kortright said.
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