Smoronk gets another shot at bond reduction today in Virginia courtroom

Dean Smoronk (Virginia State Police photo)

The Farmington man who was arrested on drug charges in Virginia in June and owns the Farmington house where two women were slain in January will have another bail hearing on the Virginia charges today in Hanover County Circuit Court.

For Dean Smoronk, 55, characterized as a major drug dealer by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, it will be his third attempt at bail in Virginia after being arrested.

His last appeal for a reduction from his $10,000 bond was rejected in July.

Smoronk's residence at 979 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, was the site of a grisly double murder in January in which Smoronk's girlfriend, Christine Sullivan, 48, along with Jenna Pellegrini, 32, of Barrington, were brutally stabbed to death on the property.

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.

Smoronk, who shared his time between Farmington and Cape Coral, Fla., was taken into custody by Virginia State Police on June 11 after a traffic stop on Interstate 95 yielded a huge cache of drugs. The car was stopped while speeding through a work zone, according to 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 and another passenger, Nicholas Batista, 20, also of Rochester, were both arrested with Smoronk but have since been released on bail, while Smoronk remains at Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover.

The drugs and drug paraphernalia 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.

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 at Carroll County Jail.

Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward has been granted several extensions of time to indict Verrill, who was denied bail by a Strafford County Superior Court judge last month.

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.

Ward told The Rochester Voice on Tuesday that the investigation into the killings continues and could continue for some time.

"We have to go where the evidence takes us," he said.

Meanwhile, 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 that 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.

The New Hampshire attorney general's office filed for a civil forfeiture petition against Smoronk several months ago, alleging some $14,000 found at his home last spring was likely the result of his drug trafficking.