“Dangerous” Dutchess County Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty to Multiple Felony Charges

Throughout the entire year, the Dutchess County Drug Task Force has been incredibly active working on numerous investigations and having successfully apprehended numerous individuals along the way who have funneled illegal and dangerous narcotics throughout the local community.

In some of these incidents, law enforcement has encountered familiar faces and apprehended some of these suspects on multiple occasions. That's the exact scenario we have today as one City of Beacon man recently pleaded guilty to not one but two separate felony charges stemming from two separate incidents that occurred this past Summer.

"Dangerous Drug Dealer" Apprehended

The suspect at the center of both of these felony incidents was identified as Rakim Paulin of Beacon.

Back in July, Paulin was arrested by the Dutchess County Drug Task Force for selling dangerous narcotics in the region. In that investigation, undercover agents had made purchases of said illegal narcotics from Paulin on multiple occasions at different locations in Dutchess County.

Original Coverage: Latest "Dangerous Drug Dealer" Caught by Drug Task Force in Wappingers

After gathering enough evidence, the DCDTF was able to obtain search warrants for Paulin and successfully executed them on July 31, 2024. On that day when DCDTF agents took Paulin into custody, he was found to be in possession of "a large quantity of Fentanyl and Crack Cocaine along with scales and packaging material".

The press release issued in response to this incident labeled Paulin as a "Dangerous Drug Dealer". For his role in the crime, Paulin was charged with 4 counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd Degree. 2 of the counts were for intent to sell and the remaining 2 were for the quantity he was in possession of.

You may read our coverage of this incident in the provided link above.

August Assault

Following his arrest on the drug charges, Paulin's next run-in with the law happened not long afterward. According to the press release issued by Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi, Paulin was once again arrested in the City of Poughkeepsie for an assault he carried on August 20, 2024.

According to that press release, the assault occurred at Pershing Avenue and Maple Street. In that incident, Paulin "attempted to intentionally cause serious physical injury to another person...".

Paulin did this by striking an individual with his vehicle at approximately 46 mph. The collision reportedly sent the victim airborne, where they then landed on the hood of the vehicle. Afterward, Paulin exited his vehicle and proceeded to further strike the victim while they were on the ground.

Guilty Plea Announced

This brings us to last week where it was announced that Paulin had officially plead guilty to crimes stemming from both of these events. Officially, Paulin pleaded guilty to the felony crimes of Attempted Assault in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 3rd Degree.

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In his response, D.A. Parisi was affirmative in reaffirming his office's objective of holding those accountable for putting the local community in danger and protecting the community itself. In part Parisi stated...

The defendants involvement in both a violent assault and the illegal drug trade shows a clear disregard for the law and the lives of others....

The press release concluded by stating that Paulin's sentencing is scheduled for January 22, 2025.