by David Flint
The area around Losty Road and Southard Road in Stephentown is normally pretty quiet and peaceful. But around 4 am on the morning of April 30 things got noisy and chaotic in a hurry as various elements of law enforcement staged a raid on a house at the intersection of those roads. Neighbors reported lights and noise, choppers overhead and numerous police vehicles storming around the area.
[private]According to Rensselaer County District Attorney Richard McNally, it was members of the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department, the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts State Police executing a search warrant at 138 Losty Road. He said two occupants were discovered in the residence, Joshua Stegemann and Jami Caesar. One of them attempted to run away but was apprehended following a brief foot pursuit.
McNally said a search was then conducted at the residence and surrounding property. He reported that a number of flat screen televisions were found connected to surveillance cameras. Also seized were about 800 grams of cocaine, 100 grams of heroin, a small amount of marijuana and 750 pills, along with loaded handguns, a loaded shotgun and approximately $297,000 in cash. Numerous pieces of stolen property, including ATVs, a tractor and a small front end loader, among other things, were located as well.
McNally said that Mr. Stegemann and Ms. Caesar were both arraigned in Berlin Court on Tuesday afternoon, April 30, and remanded without bail to the Rensselaer County Jail. They are charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance and other related charges. The Rensselaer County Grand Jury has the case.
Law Enforcement Not Forthcoming
Neighbors were concerned this past week because while rumors abounded there was no announcement from law enforcement nor anything in the news media about what had happened. And the commotion continued for several days as officials conducted their search of the area. Helicopters continued to buzz around overhead and one neighbor counted 20 vehicles parked in the driveway of the house and along the road on Thursday. Some of these were from the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department and others were unmarked, some with Massachusetts plates. “SWAT team looking guys” were prowling the property according to one resident, and there were K-9 dogs, too. Calls from The Eastwick Press to the Sheriff’s Office and State Police were not returned. Trooper Mark Cepiel, Public Information Officer at Troop G Headquarters, later confirmed that there was a “situation” concerning a Joshua Stegemann but could not release any further information except that the “situation” involved units of the State Police Community Narcotics Team, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office and the Berkshire County Drug Task Force.
Yvonne Keefe, Public Affairs Officer for the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office, said on Monday of this week that she had “no information at this time” on any such incident in Stephentown.
Although law enforcement was being silent, one neighboring resident, observing officers at the site digging in the yard, did speak to a Sheriff’s Deputy at the scene who acknowledged that it was “a major drug bust” and that a drug dealer had been arrested. About the digging he would only say that officers were searching for “certain objects.”
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