Smoronk's appeal for bond in Virginia arrest denied

Dean Smoronk (Virginia State Police photo)

HANOVER, Va. - The Farmington, N.H., man arrested on drug charges last month in Virginia and whose home was the scene of a grisly double murder in January had his second appeal for bond denied on Friday in a Hanover County Circuit Court.

Dean Smoronk, 55, of 979 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, was taken into custody on June 11 after a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Virginia yielded a huge cache of drugs. The car was stopped while speeding through a work zone, according to Virginia State Police.

Charges filed included manufacturing and selling steroids, possession of needles, capsules and a pipe; four counts of possession of controlled substances and obstructing justice.
Dusty Cousens, 40, formerly of 5 Maple St., Rochester, N.H., who was the original driver, switched seats with Smoronk as they were coming to a stop on the right shoulder because she did not have a valid license, police say.

During a search of the vehicle police found illegal narcotics and paraphernalia in the van as well as on another passenger Nicholas Batista, 20, also of Rochester.
The drugs seized included ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, two forms of anabolic steroids, needles, glass meth pipes, packaging materials and digital scales, officials said.

Smoronk was charged with four felonies as well as several misdemeanors, while Cousens was charged with one felony and several misdemeanors, including drug possession, identity theft and providing false information to law enforcement. Batista was charged with one felony and two misdemeanors for possessing drugs and paraphernalia, as well as obstructing justice.
Smoronk 's bond hearing on Friday sought to have his $10,000 bond either reduced or withdrawn. It was denied.

Meanwhile, some 20 law enforcement officers including state police and federal agents combed Smoronk's Meaderboro Road property July 18 and 19 using several search canines. During the search a backhoe was used to unearth portions of his back yard.

Smoronk's girlfriend, Christine Sullivan, 48, along with Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington, were brutally stabbed to death on the property on Jan. 27, according to court documents.

Smoronk, who discovered the bodies upon his return from Florida on Jan. 28, has not been implicated in the killings, however, he does have a record of drug involvement dating back to his arrest in South Carolina with his now-deceased girlfriend in 2014. That case has yet to go to trial.

Timothy Verrill, 34, of Dover, N.H., was arrested in the two women's deaths in February in Massachusetts and is being held without bail in Merrimack County Jail. Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward earlier this month was granted more time to develop the case prior to indictment.

Evidence in the double murder case is expected to include thousands of pages of documents as well as dozens of CDs containing audio recordings and photographs.

Smoronk also faces trial this year in the 2014 South Carolina case in which Smoronk and Christina Marie Cuozzo, then 45, of 979 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, were stopped on I-95 after their car pulled into the lane of a Sumter County deputy and almost sideswiped the cruiser, according to police.

During the stop, a K-9 unit was called and suspected methamphetamine was found in Cuozzo's purse and a large quantity of suspected methamphetamine was found inside a fake energy drink along with a small amount of marijuana, pills and an unknown white powder inside a black computer bag, according to the report. Cuozzo was later identified by law enforcement officials as an alias for Sullivan.

In a related development, the New Hampshire attorney general's office has filed for a civil forfeiture petition against Smoronk, alleging some $14,000 found at his home this spring was likely the result of his drug trafficking.