The Ulster County Sheriff’s office reports the apprehension of Daniel Neal IV in connection with a day of reckless abandon which crossed multiple town lines. Sheriff’s office detectives allege that the 43-year-old stole a pickup truck off the lot of the Kingston U-Haul on Ulster Avenue on November 18 and headed south, arriving at the Citgo station on Broadway in Port Ewen, where he is alleged to have assaulted the employee on shift and robbed the gas station of $3000 in cash.
Apparently, Mr. Neal was willing to test his luck. Along with the cash, he stole multiple lottery tickets.
Sheriff’s detectives and deputies who responded to the robbery of the gas station in Esopus compared notes with the police officers who had responded to the report of the stolen truck in the Town of Ulster. The identity of their culprit came into focus.
Neal was arrested by members of the sheriff’s office in tandem with the United States Marshals Service regional fugitive task force. Transported to the sheriff’s office in Kingston, he was charged with fine felonies (robbery, grand larceny criminal possession of stolen property, assault and criminal mischief) and one misdemeanor (also criminal mischief).
Neal was already a wanted man. An Ulster County grand jury had indicted him last December 13 in absentia for multiple felony offenses.
The Citgo employee was transported to the Mary’s Avenue Hospital for the treatment of injuries sustained.
After an arraignment in county court, Neal, finding himself unable to raise the $75,000 cash bail, $150,000 bond, or $300,000 partially secured bond, was remanded to the county jail until he is called back to the court at a so far undisclosed future date and time.
Members of the Ulster Police Department, Kingston Police Department, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, and the United States Marshals Service assisted detectives with this investigation.
Even a sympathetic application of the sentencing guidelines could easily put Neal behind bars for more than three years. In that case, the amount of money stolen divided by the time he will have to serve would put Neal decisively in the red, his ill-advised gambit having earned him just $1000 a year.
If one of the scratchoffs were to pay out big for him, Neal might become one of those lucky souls who, like Edith Piaf, regrets nothing.
He faces very long odds.
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