Smoronk being held without bail on weapons charge

Dean Smoronk, inset, and his Meaderboro Road home in Farmington. (inset, Virginia State Police; background photo Rochester Voice file)

The man whose girlfriend was among two women brutally stabbed to death two years ago in his Farmington home and whom the state has classified as a known drug dealer is being held without bail following his arrest on weapons charges last month.

Dean V. Smoronk, 57, of 979 Meaderboro Road, is currently being held at an undisclosed corrections facility while awaiting possible indictment by a grand jury in federal court, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Concord said today.

Smoronk's longtime girlfriend Christine Sullivan, 48; and an acquaintance of hers, Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington, were both killed early the morning of Jan. 27, 2017.

Smoronk discovered the bodies upon his return from Florida on Jan. 28. He has never been implicated in the killings, however he does have a record of drug involvement, including an arrest in South Carolina with his now-deceased girlfriend in 2014, and in June 2017 when he was arrested on Interstate 95 in Virginia for drug possession.

He returned to New Hampshire last June a couple of months after his release from a Virginia jail.

Smoronk was arrested on Dec. 20 for allegedly being in possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a stolen firearm as part of a drug sweep throughout the Greater Rochester area.

A week later at a probable cause hearing in U.S. district court it was determined he should be held without bail. Prosecutors now have a month to seek an indictment against him.

His next hearing in federal court is set for Jan. 22.

U.S. Court records also show that Smoronk filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding on Aug. 30, but that the order was dismissed on Dec. 17 due to noncompliance.

Records at Farmington Town Hall indicated that Smoronk currently owes about $19,300 in back taxes on his Meaderboro Road property.

In April 2017 the state's effort to seize more than $14,000 in cash from Smoronk's Farmington home was tossed out of court because someone forgot to get the forfeiture petition to the court on time.

State Police seized the cash on Feb. 3, 2017, after it was found during the execution of a search warrant at Smoronk's Meaderboro Road home.

According to court documents police found $10,318 in cash in two separate pouches of a black carry-on bag in the basement and found another $3,828 in a red, white and black flower bag in the master bedroom.

However, it wasn't until April 3 that the forfeiture petition was mailed - not delivered - to the Strafford County Superior Courthouse in Dover, resulting in its being filed on April 5 when it was received around 5 p.m., a day after the 60-day time window for such a notice.

The specific RSA that dictates the time frame is (318-B:17b). It states, "The department of justice shall, within 60 days of the seizure, file a petition in the superior court having jurisdiction. If no such petition is filed within 60 days, the items of property interests seized shall be released or returned to the owners."

Meanwhile, Timothy Verrill, 36, of Dover, the man accused in the deaths of the two women, is expected have his trial next May in Strafford County Superior Court.

A former South Carolina prosecutor said Smoronk could serve up to 10 years in prison if he's found guilty of the meth charge filed there.