Couple With Kids Accused of Selling Heroin to Undercover Cop

Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that a man and a woman from Mahopac brought their two young children with them when they went to make a drug deal in that hamlet.

Philip C. Callaci, aged 49, and Dawn Lagatella, aged 38, of 1 Parker Drive in Mahopac, face drug dealing and child endangerment charges in the case. The alleged incident took place on Oct. 26.

The couple, who are described as boyfriend and girlfriend, allegedly drove together in a car to the parking lot of a Mahopac gas station on Wednesday afternoon, where they had pre-arranged to meet with, and sell heroin to, a buyer. The couple’s two children—a two-year- old and a three-week- old infant—were with them in the car at the time.

The buyer in the drug transaction turned out to be an undercover deputy sheriff working as part a buy-and- bust team of the Sheriff’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit. When the alleged heroin sale was transacted, NEU members moved in and arrested Callaci and Lagatella and seized a quantity of heroin from the couple’s car. Uniformed patrol deputies and state troopers assisted the undercover narcotics team in the arrest.

The Sheriff’s Office notified the Putnam County Department of Child Protective Services regarding the incident. The children were temporarily turned over to a relative at the scene.

Callaci was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree with intent to sell and endangering the welfare of a child. At the time of his arrest, Callaci was on probation for a prior petit larceny conviction. He was arraigned before Carmel Town Justice Thomas Jacobellis, who set bail in the amount of $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond. He was remanded to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in lieu of bail until Oct. 27, when the cash bail was posted to secure his release.

Lagatella was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and endangering the welfare of a child. She was booked and released upon an appearance ticket directing her to answer the charges in the Carmel Justice Court on a later date.