© 2026
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scam Advisory: We have been made aware that an online entity is posing as Joe Donahue to invite authors and other creatives onto our radio shows. The scammers then attempt to charge guests an appearance fee for exposure/publicity.
Please note: WAMC does not charge guests to appear on the station and any email about appearing on a WAMC program will come from a wamc.org email address.

Upstate NY Drug Dealer Caught With Big Rural Stash Sentenced

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Dave Lucas
Published July 20, 2016 at 4:53 PM EDT
Springfield Police Dept

A 39-year-old New York man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after authorities found large amounts of drugs and nearly $300,000 in cash stashed around his rural upstate property.

Federal prosecutors say Joshua Stegemann was sentenced Wednesday in Albany, where a jury convicted him last August on drug and weapons possession charges.

Authorities say he based his drug trafficking business out of his property in the Rensselaer County town of Stephentown.

A police search in April 2013 found more than 600 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of heroin, 700 oxycodone pills, three firearms with ammunition, and $296,000 hidden in the house or stashed among the landscaping.

A search of a home in nearby Pittsfield, Massachusetts, turned up another $160,000 in cash.

Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press.
Tags
New York News StephentowncocaineHeroin Arrest
Dave Lucas
Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
See stories by Dave Lucas
Related Content