Cops: PA Fugitive Nabbed on Route 9 with Stolen Gun, Drugs

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — A man wanted in Pennsylvania was arrested in Putnam County after a traffic stop resulted in weapon and gun charges.

Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that the traffic stop was made by a deputy sheriff in Philipstown at 1:19 a.m. March 22.

Deputy Sheriff Ronald Yeager was patrolling along U.S. Route 9 in Philipstown when he pulled over a car for having an excessively loud muffler. During the course of that stop, the deputy ran a computer check on the driver, Benjamin Franklin Stine IV, 24, of 43 Forest St. in Hop Bottom, Pennsylvania, which revealed that he was wanted on a bench warrant issued in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania for a probation violation.

The Sheriff’s Office communicated with Susquehanna County authorities, who advised that they would extradite Stine back to that jurisdiction on the warrant.

The Sheriff's Office alleges that when he was stopped, Stine was in possession of a stolen and loaded .32 caliber revolver, an illegal gravity knife, hypodermic needles, and quantities of substances suspected to be crystal methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana.

Stine faces a litany of charges in Putnam County:

• criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a class C felony
• criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, a class E felony
• criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree
• criminally possessing a hypodermic instrument
• two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree
• unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation
• traffic infractions.

The top felony gun charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $5,000 upon conviction.

Stine was arraigned before Putnam Valley Town Justice Gina Capone, acting on behalf of the Philipstown Justice Court. The judge committed him to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in lieu of $75,000 cash bail or $150,000 bail bond pending a future appearance in the Philipstown court.