Sheriff
Ulster County Sheriff’s Office
Kingston, New York
Juan Figueroa has always been moved by a sense of service to people in his community and country. He was appointed to the US Marine Corps straight out of Wallkill Senior high school. After being stationed in Japan, South Korea, Camp Lejeune NC, he brought back with him important lessons in life: the importance of racial diversity and respect, regardless of personal differences.
After four years active duty with the Marines, he served 18 years with the Marine Corps Reserve. During his time as Chief Warrant Officer, he held primary responsibilities in operations, aviation logistics support, budget, training, deployment, and base facilities abroad. In the early 1990s he deployed and was in charge of deploying over 150 Marines and support requirements during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Juan became a trooper with the New York State Police in 1988, patrolling roads in Ulster County. During his 25-year career with the State Police he assumed key leadership roles, initially as a Police Academy Instructor and Field Training Officer then as an Investigator with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation for 19 years. He worked on several long-term investigations involving money laundering / narcotics and drug cartels. Investigations during his term resulted in the seizure of over $60 million in cash, 400+ kilos of drugs, and the arrest of key figures in the drug trade. Juan was also part of investigations relating to organized crime, economic crime, corruption, racketeering, extortion, identity and vehicle theft.
After a distinguished career as a military service member and NYS Police Investigator, and five years in the corporate arena, Juan brought his broad perspective to law enforcement. He believes in upholding the law while working with the community and applying proactive, innovative, and sensible approaches to the county’s most pressing issues, such as the Opioid epidemic. Juan represents a brand of leadership that values fairness, compassion, respect, and the highest standards of professionalism at all levels. After many years of public service, he remains bound by an unwavering sense of duty and deep commitment to the community.
In 2018 Juan was elected Sheriff of Ulster County NY. Located in the rural Hudson Valley region, Ulster County has twenty towns, three villages and one city. Ulster county has over 1,161 square miles and a population of over 181,850 residents. The Sheriff’s Office consists of a Criminal Division, drug task force, corrections Division, a Civil Division, and a budget of 39 million dollars. During his first term in office law enforcement met numerous challenges: bail reform, new discovery laws, reforming police, anti-law enforcement sentiment and budget constraints. Under his leadership the office developed innovative programs like ORACLE (Opioid Response as County Law Enforcement), to stabilize the Opioid epidemic in the county, AVERT (Anti-Violence Effort Response Team) to divert troubled youth involved in crime.
Monday, April 10, 2023
2:30 PM – 3:45 PM