A New Paltz man who prosecutors say led one of the largest drug trafficking rings ever uncovered in Ulster County has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison as part of a plea agreement with the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

Christopher Pulichene, 40, faced a maximum sentence of life in prison on a A-1 felony charge of acting as a major drug trafficker.

Pulichene was among nine defendants arrested in June 2022 following a year-long investigation by the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team and the Attorney General’s Office. The group led by Pulichene, prosecutors say, operated in Ulster, Dutchess and Saratoga counties selling cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

In many cases, the gang used pill presses to disguise their product as prescription medications like Xanax, Adderall and Percocet. In a response to a question from Ulster County Court Judge Bryan Rounds, state Assistant Attorney General Griffin Kenyon said the ruse was intended to lure drug users seeking prescription medications who might shy away from street drugs.

Over the course of the operation, which involved wiretaps, surveillance teams and undercover cops, police recovered 11 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $1.2 million, 15,000 methamphetamine pills and 750 heroin pills. Cops also recovered 39 firearms including military-style semi-automatic rifles and illegal handguns, illegal high-capacity magazines, body armor and $120,000 in suspected drug proceeds.

Pulichene himself was caught with 10 kilos of cocaine, $98,000 in cash and an arsenal that included an FN SCAR rifle, an unlicensed Beretta handgun and a full suit of body armor. Cops say Pulichene headed up the drug ring, obtaining narcotics from sources in California and the Gulf Coast and distributing them to associates in Kingston, Saugerties and New Paltz as well as Dutchess and Saratoga counties. Pulichene was indicted on 275 counts of various drug, weapons and conspiracy charges and faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

But in Ulster County Court on Thursday, Pulichene’s attorney, Kevin Conway, and the defendant himself sought to justify the more lenient sentence and to argue for one that would potentially lead to even less prison time. Conway asked the court to consider sentencing Pulichene to a sentence that included drug and alcohol rehabilitation. If approved the sentence could see the accused drug kingpin released from prison to a secure state rehab facility after serving just seven years of his 10-year sentence. Conway said his client had been a hard-working, law abiding citizen until 2018 when his life began a “downward spiral” caused by the still-unsolved murder of a close female friend, followed shortly by the death of his father from cancer accompanied by dementia.

As detailed in a pre-sentencing investigation by the Ulster County Probation Department and a private “mitigation report” commissioned by the defense, Pulichene began abusing alcohol then, unknowingly, began buying heroin disguised as prescription Percocet from a source who would eventually become one of his underlings in the trafficking ring. Pulichene, Conway said suffered from bipolar disorder, panic attacks, and PTSD and had attempted suicide on six occasions.

Conway added that his client needed “trauma-informed treatment” that was unavailable in a prison setting and that Pulichene faced “safety issues” as a previously law-abiding citizen in a state correctional facility.

“He doesn’t come from the streets,” said Conway. “He doesn’t come from a gang.”

Pulichene then addressed the court, reading a lengthy statement in which he said his descent into criminality had been brought on by a “full-blown mental health crisis” exacerbated by isolation and difficulty obtaining help during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a raging heroin addiction that at one point was costing him $1,500 every few days. Pulichene also detailed his efforts to get clean and avail himself of treatment and counseling programs offered at the Ulster County Jail, where he has been confined since his arrest. Pulichene also described instances of helping fellow inmates.

“My actions have damaged my relationships with my community and my loved ones,” Pulichene said. “My actions have left me with complete disgust for myself.”

Rounds, meanwhile, said he was skeptical that Pulichene fully grasps the seriousness of his crimes. Rounds said that unlike many defendants who come to his courtroom, Pulichene had had advantages and options in life and had chosen to use his evident intelligence and leadership skills to rise to the top of a major drug-trafficking organization. Rounds, who denied the defense request for the lesser sentence, also pointed out that Pulichene had engaged in the same behavior — selling street narcotics disguised as prescription medication — that got him addicted to heroin in the first place.

“You did the exact same thing to other people, and you profited from it,” said Rounds. “You didn’t sell everything you had to support your habit, you were making bank.”