Guilty Plea in Connection With Gruesome Murder in Hudson Valley

One of four Orange County men charged in connection with the kidnapping and gruesome killing of a man in Goshen pleaded guilty to his role in the man's death.

Seth Pelsang, 31, of Goshen pleaded guilty to manslaughter, Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Friday. The plea is in connection with a December 18, 2019, death of a man found beaten and bound on Kipp Road in the Town of Goshen.

Three others, Robert Haskell, 55, Timothy Smith, 37, both of Goshen, and Courtney Clemenza, 32, of Chester, were also previously charged in connection with the man’s death.

During prior court appearances prosecutors argued that on December 18, 2019, the deceased man went to the house where Haskell, Pelsang and Smith lived armed with a shotgun. After the man was disarmed by the residents and restrained, Haskell then beat him with a baseball bat.

Prosecutors argued that all the defendants helped tie-up the injured man. The man was placed inside Clemenza’s car and that he was driven to another area in the Village of Chester where he was left on the side of the road, bound and wounded.

After about 20 minutes a driver noticed the motionless, bound man. He was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead, officials say.

At the time Pelsang pleaded guilty, he admitted that he participated, along with others, in tying-up the man, beating him with a baseball bat, transporting him in a car and leaving him in the road, bound and helpless. Pelsang also stated that he did not notify 911, or anyone else, that the injured man was tied-up on the roadway.

Pelsang is next scheduled to appear in court on December 17. Clemenza, Haskell and Smith are next scheduled to appear in court on October 1, 2020.

“Individuals cannot be allowed to take the law into their own hands or settle disputes with violence,” Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said in press release. “This man suffered a violent death that was as foreseeable as it was preventable.”

Haskell, Smith and Pelsang were charged with crimes including murder in the Second Degree and kidnapping. Haskell was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Clemenza was charged with crimes including manslaughter, kidnapping in the Second Degree and endangering the welfare of a child.