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Township police got a tip that Robert Jackson had a handgun in his home even though a drug conviction from nearly a decade ago prevents him from legally possessing one, Detective Sgt. James Donatello said.
Jackson had spent nearly seven years in state prison in two separate stretches since 2012.
He was on parole for a previous conviction when he sold $10,000 worth of heroin to undercover police in Hopatcong after taking a cab there from Paterson, authorities said.
He was sentenced to a maximum of 11 years but was released in April 2020 after serving 6½ years, records show.
Jackson also was involved in a parental abduction case in 2012. Police at the time said he took his 2-year-old daughter by force from a babysitter at the child’s mother’s home in Bogota.
Jackson is still awaiting trial on attempted murder charges for firing shots at a trio of people outside Mother's Ale House in Wayne in 2019.
SEE: Attempted Murder Counts In Shooting Outside Mother's In Wayne
On top of that, he'd been ordered to surrender any firearms after a domestic violence restraining order was signed against him, records show.
Given the circumstances, South Hackensack Police Officer Joseph Applegate obtained a no-knock warrant to remove the gun and arrest Jackson.
A Bergen County Regional SWAT Team hit Jackson's home before dawn and found a loaded .45-caliber handgun in a bedside nightstand within arm's reach, Donatello said.
Jackson was arrested and a 33-year-old female visitor from New York was released after police determined that she had no involvement, the sergeant said.
They charged Jackson with violating a domestic violence restraining order, making terroristic threats and various weapons offenses, including possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Jackson was being held at Hackensack University Medical Center while awaiting a detention hearing when he told an officer that he "should've killed y'all m*ther fuckers as soon as you came in the door."
Informed of the latest development, a judge in Hackensack ordered last week that Jackson remain in custody until further notice.
"Thanks in part to the legal representation of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and the outstanding work of the Regional SWAT Team, we were able to take a dangerous firearm out of our community," South Hackensack Police Chief Robert Chinchar said.
Donatello, for his part, said the step-by-step process that led to the ultimate arrest was "a great example of how law enforcement agencies throughout Bergen County can seamlessly work together at a moment's notice to accomplish our objectives."
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