Plea deal could free JC man caught with 3 kilos of heroin at GWB in 18 months

ANOTHER CVP EXCLUSIVE: A Jersey City man caught by Fort Lee police with six pounds of pure heroin at the George Washington Bridge last summer could be home in 18 months after pleading guilty to drug distribution charges in Hackensack this afternoon.

Photo Credit: *CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia*

Jerry DeMarco

04/08/2015 6:26 p.m.

Ernis Beato, 25, could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison if he’d been convicted at a trial.

Ernis Beato (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

He instead agreed to a non-cooperating plea deal, in exchange for a six-year prison term when he is sentenced June 5.

Beato was coming from Philadelphia last June when Fort Lee Police Detective T.J. Cullen, acting on a tip, stopped his Volvo on the eastbound Route 4 approach to the GWB.

Given permission to search the vehicle, Cullen found enough pure heroin stashed under the passenger seat to fill a half-million bags for street sale, authorities said.

Beato remained free today on $250,000 bail, posted a little over two weeks after his arrest.

STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia

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