The Catskills rise like an old promise, rolling hills thick with pine and shadow, where the air smells of wet earth and woodsmoke. The towns are small, tucked between valleys, their pasts stitched together with fading postcards of grand hotels, ghost resorts, and summer crowds that never came back.
Fallsburg, New York—a town of cracked sidewalks and quiet deals, where politics run deep, and names mean more than laws. A patchwork of faded grandeur and discontent. And quiet undertones of politics and power.
Here, the law bends where it needs to.
The Warning – March 13, 2019
Rose Steingart, 18, left her parents’ house, a suitcase, and nowhere to go. Colone R. DaCosta, 31, gave her a place to stay. She was the daughter of Councilman Nathan Steingart, a synagogue president. Rose was suspected of using drugs. DaCosta was suspected of being a drug dealer in town.
Councilman Steingart disapproved of Rose living with DaCosta. State Police Investigator Will Young Jr—his friend—disapproved even more.
His mother was driving. Colone DaCosta sat in the passenger seat. The police car appeared behind them, lights flashing. State Police Investigator Will Young Jr. walked to the window. Looked past the driver. Straight at DaCosta.
“Step out of the car.” He did. “Stay away from Rose,” Young said. “Or I’m going to ruin your life.”
Rose had been Young’s babysitter. At times she stayed overnight. Now, she lived with DaCosta. Young, nearly 50, had an interest in Rose.
The Setup – June 2019
The affidavit for the warrant was signed by State Police Investigator Christina Sanfeliz—a longtime friend of Young’s. The affidavit was based on two drug buys from a confidential informant. Two transactions. June 6. June 12. They said Colone sold heroin and fentanyl.
Judge Frank LaBuda signed the search warrant based on Investigator Sanfeliz’s word. LaBuda never confirmed there was an informant. The buy money was never logged. Serial numbers never recorded. No chain of custody.
Raid
Early morning. Flashing lights. Doors broken down. They arrested Colone. They found a gun. They arrested Rose. While she sat in a holding cell, she told Steve Lungen, the lawyer hired by her parents, not about Colone, but about Will Young. Rose spoke about texts from Young urging her to leave Colone. He’d find a place for her.
The Lawyers
As for Colone, they charged him with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell in the 3rd degree, criminal possession of a narcotic drug in the 4th degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 4th degree (hallucinogen), criminal possession of stolen property and criminal possession of a weapon in the 2nd degree (loaded firearm), and gave him an assigned lawyer.
The assigned lawyer John Janusas didn’t challenge Young’s involvement. The judge ordered the prosecutors to turn over the lab reports and the warrant affidavit. The prosecutors ignored it. Janusas asked again. The judge said he’d schedule a suppression hearing. That hearing never came.
Janusas never told DaCosta he wasn’t fighting the warrant. Never gave him the discovery. They assigned Gail Rubenfeld. She said she’d fight. She didn’t. DaCosta paid for his own attorney. Ten thousand dollars. Benjamin Greenwald. A private attorney. Two visits. No discovery.
They all said the same thing: Plead. So he did.
The Sentence – September 29, 2023
Three and a half years. A felony. A misdemeanor. Five years probation. He sat in a courtroom and told them what they wanted to hear. Then he learned the truth. The affidavit had been redacted. The buy reports contradicted the evidence. The drugs weren’t tested for two years. When they finally were produced, it was not heroin or fentanyl, like they said, but cocaine. Sold to an informant who may not have existed and was never produced.
The Appeal – May 2024
Attorney Carolyn George filed the appeal motion. DeCosta’s case was built on a search warrant based on an informant who likely was a fiction. You can’t search a man’s house because Will Young doesn’t want you harboring a girl he has a hankering for or because he is working for her daddy.
You don’t build a case on missing evidence. On a vendetta. No one says DaCosta is an angel. But he is in Groveland Correctional Facility for this offense and he has asked for a hearing. Asked for Investigator Sanfeliz to be cross-examined. Asked for Young’s role to be exposed. There were witnesses. People said they knew Young used his position to chase others who dated Rose. He sent officers to their homes.
It is ironic. For Will Young this case ended his police career. After Rose told on him, the state police placed Young on administrative leave. Then, he quietly retired. No charges. No hearings. No press. He moved into private security for Platinum Leaf LLC, a cannabis dispensary he reportedly had an interest in.
Then came the scandal. A young sheriff deputy, pregnant. Young was suspected. It might be a coincidence, but he left with his wife and kids to North Carolina. A fresh start. A clean slate.
The Catskills are old country, deep forests and rolling hills—the maple, oak, birch—roots gripping the rocky soil, branches twisting toward the sky. Creeks cut through valleys, cold, fast, slipping over stones smoothed by centuries. Mist clings to the hollows in the morning, then vanish in the sun. The wind moves through pines, a whisper, restless like Will Young.
None of this story perhaps would be of interest if Colon DaCosta was not still in prison. But because he is it warrants the kind of treatment not readily offered to some.
In the Catskills, there are legends of forest spirits, luring travelers astray. The truth doesn’t always matter. Not when the right people need it buried. Forest spirits, small and clever, leading people into the woods or in this case to prison only to vanish before the dawn.
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