Arrest Connected to Nanuet Man's Fatal OD

Port Jervis City police officers arrested Kevin Pelton, 58, of Port Jervis on Jan. 27, who is alleged to have injected a Nanuet man with a dose of heroin that killed him.

Police said that on Nov. 3, officers and other first responders, were dispatched to Pelton’s residence at 6 Mount William St. in response to a 911 call from a woman there who reported that an unconscious man needed medical assistance.

Police and medical personal attempted to render aid to Joseph Vara, age 51 of Nanuet, New York, but he died.

Following a preliminary investigation by police, Pelton was charged with Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree (both of which are class B Felonies) and Criminal Injection of a Narcotic Drug (a class E felony).

It is alleged that Pelton injected Vara with heroin while Vara and another man were at his residence.

Pelton was also charged with Manslaughter in the Second Degree (a class C felony) and Criminally Negligent Homicide (a class E felony), not just for having injected heroin into Vara, but also for failing to promptly seek medical attention for Vara after he became unconscious and had difficulty breathing.

In fact, Pelton did not tell either the police officers or medical personnel who attempted to aid Vara that the unconscious man had just been injected with heroin, police said.

In response to an increasing number of heroin overdoses, City of Port Jervis Police Officers now bring Naloxone, a medication that immediately reverses overdoses involving opiates such as heroin, to all calls for assistance.