A Hurley man, 42-year-old Matthew DiDonna of Wayside Drive, was arrested on felony drug charges early Sunday morning after state police got a tip that DiDonna had sold drugs from his house the previous day.
A search warrant executed at DiDonna's house found psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana. DiDonna faces charges of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance, both felonies, and unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation.
DiDonna was arraigned at the Town of Hurley Court and remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $20,000 cash bail or $100,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to re-appear in the Town of Hurley Court on Monday, December 10 at 6pm.
Update, 12/10: On Sunday, Kingston High School released a statement that a teacher at the high school had been arrested on drug charges, and placed on leave while the case proceeds. The teacher was not named in the statement.
The statement was reported by the Freeman, prompting speculation by dozens of commenters about whether DiDonna was the teacher in question. Freeman managing editor Tony Adamis has weighed in several times, stating that the Freeman has been unable to confirm that DiDonna was the unnamed teacher. He writes in response to a commenter asking why the Freeman has not connected the police news release with the high school's statement:
We have been unable to confirm on the record that the state police release to which I assume you refer is connected to the district statement.
While no address is given, a Matthew DiDonna is listed as a social studies teacher in the Kingston High School staff directory.
A student at Kingston High writes dryly of the incident via Facebook:
In other news....there was a significant drop [in] massive global homework assignments.
