Saugerties police identify body found in Dragon Inn, call on village to shutter building

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Saugerties police chief Joe Sinagra said that he’d asked village officials to take action to address a long-vacant building where a man was found dead this week.

Brian Chapman Velie, 58, was found dead on Saturday, Feb. 6 in the basement of the former Dragon Inn restaurant at 149 Burt St. Sinagra said Velie, a Dutchess County native, had apparently been living in the basement of the derelict Victorian-style building, a mansion once called Clovelea, for some time. Sinagra said Velie was living there last year when he was arrested for trespassing and impeding an investigation into an explosive device discovered at an adjacent property. Sinagra said police went to the vacant building after someone who knew Velie was living there called police to say they had not seen him in a few days. Police believe Velie’s death was related to a “medical issue” and they do not suspect foul play.

On Tuesday, Sinagra expressed frustration with Dragon Inn owner Jason Moskowitz saying that he had failed to adequately secure the property. Sinagra said that he had contacted the village building department to ask them to take action to ensure the property is secured.

“It’s not my responsibility to board his building up,” said Sinagra. “[Village officials] need to take some aggressive action before someone else ends up dead there.”