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“She brought the baby to do the deal,” Lyndhurst Police Chief James O’Connor told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight. “And the child wasn’t in a car seat.”
Officers Richard Pizzuti and Ronald Guirland were on patrol just after 3:30 this afternoon when they spotted 51-year-old Francis P. Moyna (above, bottom) , a known drug user, pacing back and forth in the 500 block of Ridge Road, O’Connor said.
Soon after, a car pulled up and Moyna got in, the chief said. A woman was driving and another woman and a man were inside with the young girl.
Noticing the girl not properly protected, the officers stopped the vehicle as they were being joined by Officers Geoffrey Rejent and Richard Holicki, O’Connor said.
Moyna was carrying 25 decks of heroin that he’d just bought, the chiefs said. The others had another five decks on them, he said.
The girl’s mother, 35-year-old Jennifer Rivera (above, left) of Newark, was charged with child endangerment and conspiracy to distribute drugs. She was being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
The driver, 27-year-old Lauren Desiderio of Bloomfield, was charged with the same counts, as well as with having drug paraphernia and a hypodermic syringe. Desiderio was being held on $50,000 and was issued several motor vehicle summonses.
In addition, Ricky Pacheco, 33, Newark, was charged with drug possession and distribution, drug distribution in a school zone and child endangerment. His bail is $75,000.
Moyna was released on $5,000 bail.
State authorities took custody of the girl.
Yesterday, Lyndhurst police arrested Rivera’s live-in boyfriend, 27-year-old Anthony Chaljub, on charges of heroin possession with the intent to distribute the drug near the Roosevelt School. He remained held in the Bergen County Jail on $75,000 bail.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy LYNDHURST PD
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