Above: Ronnie and his handler, Delhi police officer Matthew Davis. Photo via the Southern Tier Police Canine Association.
A police dog named Ronnie found 67 individually-wrapped bags of heroin in a drug bust that netted five people on Wednesday, June 10 in the Delaware County town of Delhi, police say.
Ronnie is a relative newbie to the job -- he was donated to the Delhi Police Department a year ago to work as a narcotics detection dog, according to the Southern Tier Police Canine Association. He found the drugs, as well as cash and hypodermic needles, in a vehicle.
Of the five people who were arrested in the bust, two were from Long Island: 28-year-old Jason K. Arnold and 36-year-old Michelle L. Aloisi, both of Floral Park, according to a Village of Delhi Police Department press release.
Both were charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child.
Arnold was also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, while Aloisi was also charged with obstructing governmental administration, police say. Both were arraigned in the town court of Delhi and are being held in the Delaware County Jail on $50,000 cash bail.
The search was part of an investigation into drug trafficking in the village, police say.
The three other people who were arrested and charged with drug offenses in connection with the bust are all Catskills residents.
Paul Fontana Jr., a 29-year-old from Margaretville, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. George Robinson Sr., a 41-year-old from Delhi, and Heather L. Countryman, a 30-year-old from Delhi, were both charged with criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, police say.
