MONTICELLO – Two Sullivan County men were arrested early on New Year’s morning on felony charges of criminal possession of a weapon and a misdemeanor resisting arrest.
The 12:45 a.m. incident led to the arrest in Monticello of Carlos Ortiz, 25, of Liberty and Raquan Reed, 21, of Swan Lake. Reed was also charged with a second felony of criminal possession of a weapon and a misdemeanor of resisting arrest.
Monticello Police responded to a call of a car that struck a utility pole at the intersection of Lakewood Avenue and Lake Street.
Officers observed the broken utility pole, but the vehicle had fled the scene leaving car parts and the front license plate of a 2010 Nissan Maxima in the roadway.
Police then received a report of a suspicious man banging on the door of a home on Lake Street.
Monticello Police located Ortiz outside the home. He was the registered owner of the car involved in the accident and suffered from a large abrasion to his forehead.
During an interview and pat down of Ortiz, police found a loaded and illegally possessed .38 caliber handgun on him. He was arrested without incident.
An assisting state trooper located Ortiz’s heavily damaged vehicle on Woodcliff Avenue and observed Reed standing in the roadway. He ran into the woods as the officers approached, but was located on St. John Street by Sullivan County deputy sheriffs. Reed was founded in possession of an illegally possessed 9mm handgun in his waistband. The gun was loaded with a 17-round magazine.
Both men were arraigned and remanded to the Sullivan Valley County Jail on $75,000 cash bail or $150,000 bond.
Also assisting Monticello Police during the incident was Mobile Medic Ambulance and Monticello Fire Department.
