Monroe Police Chief announces first-ever service awards

MONROE — Monroe Village Police Chief David B. Conklin has recognized the efforts of 14 members of his department - plus its K-9 Simba - during the last 12 months at the first ever awards ceremony held earlier this month.
The awards were issued for outstanding work that was performed between June 2016 and May 2017.
“I believe that we have the best police officers in the tri-state area and they do an excellent job every single day,” Conklin said. “They routinely go above and beyond and provide our residents with exemplary police services. The awards that were issued were to recognize our officers for their acts of heroism, bravery, intelligence and services which are above and beyond what is ordinarily expected. “
There were four categories of awards:
Exceptional Police Duty AwardsSergeant David Lee
Detective Patrick Tenaglia
• Tenaglia and Lee earned two awards. The first was for their diligent efforts in a three-month long investigation of heroin sales in the Village. Their investigation led to several sales of heroin to undercover police officers and they obtained a search warrant for the subjects’ residence. During the execution of the search warrant officers and K-9 unit recovered 840 bags of heroin, 13 Suboxoyne pills and cash proceeds of drug sales. These two subjects were major drug traffickers in Monroe. Both subjects were charged with multiple felonies and one of them, who was on parole for drug sales, was sentenced to seven years in prison for these charges.
• Tenaglia and Lee earned a second award for their efforts in a drug investigation from a residence in the village. After conducting several hours of surveillance and with the assistance of a confidential informant, Tenaglia and Lee were able to obtain a search warrant for the residence that resulted in the recovery of 15.6 ounces of marijuana and cash from drug sales.
Police Officer Luke Fremgen
During the past year Fremgen made nine arrests for criminal possession of a controlled substance. These arrests resulted in 38 decks of heroin, 75 pills consisting of amphetamines and opiates, 21 hypodermic needles and 41 grams of cocaine taken off the streets of Monroe.
Police Officer Timothy Young
During the past year Young made eight arrests for criminal possession of a controlled substance. These arrests resulted in 14 decks of heroin, 59 pills consisting of amphetamines and opiates, one bag of crack and 18 hypodermic needles taken off of the streets.
Police Officer James Malgieri
Malgieri earned this award for his arrest of subject who claimed he was part of ISIS and that he planted a bomb at the Mobil gas station. The initial investigation showed a suspicious package planted by the fuel tanks at the gas station where the subject stated he planted it. After the State Police Bomb Squad checked, it was determined that it was a “dummy bomb” with wires and a laptop rigged to appear to resemble a bomb but it did not contain any explosives.
Sergeant Darwin Guzman
Police Officer Christopher Gatto
Sergeant Guzman, Gatto and Detective Tenaglia earned this award for their diligence conducting an investigation of a home invasion burglary. Not only did they recover all of the stolen property, they arrested three subjects who were convicted and sentenced to prison.
Life Saver AwardsDetective Kyle Mahoney
Police Officer Stephen Dunn
Police Officer Timothy Young
Dunn, Young and Mahoney responded to a medical call where the elderly patient was unresponsive. Upon arrival these officers observed that the man had no pulse and was not breathing. They immediately began CPR and used a defibrillator on the man, shocking his heart several times. These officers worked on this patient and were able to bring him back to life. The patient was transported to Orange Regional Medical Center for further treatment.
K-9 Achievement AwardPolice Officer James Gayler and K-9 Simba
Gayler and his K-9 partner, Simba, stopped a vehicle for a violation of the vehicle and traffic laws. While speaking to the driver (a 33-year-old female from Monroe), Gayler observed drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle.
Gayler deployed Simba to perform an exterior search of the vehicle for the odor of drugs. Simba gave several strong indications of the presence of drugs inside the vehicle. Gayler then deployed Simba inside the vehicle and Simba actively alerted to several different areas inside the vehicle where drugs were found and recovered. The search revealed a total of 607 pills, different varieties of controlled substances, two bags of heroin, scales and other evidence of packaging for sale and cash.
Gayler placed the young woman under arrest for 13 different charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance. She was sent to the Orange County Jail.
Certificate of AchievementDetective Kyle Mahoney
Police Officer James Gayler
Mahoney and Gayler responded to a call of a woman being unresponsive and not breathing in a residence. Upon arrival Officers Mahoney and Gayler realized this woman was suffering from a drug overdose and they immediately administered Narcan. The woman became conscious and started breathing again and she was transported to the hospital for further observation.
Police Officer Anthony Grosso
Grosso responded to a call of a man being unresponsive and not breathing in his vehicle. Upon arrival Grosso realized this man was suffering from a drug overdose and he immediately administered Narcan. The man became conscious and started breathing again and he was transported to the hospital for further observation.
Police Officer James Malgieri
Police Officer Jason Farningham
Farningham and Malgieri responded to a call of a house on fire at 3:30 a.m. Upon arrival, both officers observed a house fully engulfed in flames and immediately put themselves in danger while checking the house to make sure no one was inside until the fire department responded. The heat from the fire caused power lines to separate from the house and fall next to a neighbor’s house.
The entire area was filled with smoke but that did not stop both officers as they navigated their way through the smoke and over live electrical lines to evacuate the residents of that house.
Chief’s AwardPolice officers Stephen Dunn and Luke Fremgen earned this award for being the most active and productive officers in the department with the high number of traffic tickets issued and arrests made.
“I am very proud of these officers,” Conklin said, “and I am honored to recognize their hard work.”