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Teen Passenger In Route 17 Stop Had Loaded Gun, Magazine, Drugs, Cash: Upper Saddle River PD

An 18-year-old passenger was found carrying a loaded gun, drugs for sale and $3,000 in suspected proceeds during a Route 17 traffic stop, Upper Saddle River police said.

Jiovanni Contreras

Jiovanni Contreras

Photo Credit: Upper Saddle River PD (left) / BCJ (right)

Officer Jake Chiavelli stopped the Toyota Corolla for motor vehicle violations on the northbound highway near Franklin Turnpike around 11 p.m. Friday, June 30, Upper Saddle River Detective Capt. Edward Kane said.

Passenger Jiovanni Contreras, 18, of Paterson had the .40-caliber handgun with a 25-round extended magazine inside his pant leg, Kane said.

He and a 17-year-old city resident sitting next to him had "distribution amounts" of heroin, cocaine and marijuana along with the cash, the captain said.

Contreras was charged with gun, drug and ammunition offenses and sent to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained on Saturday awaiting a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.

The boy was released to an adult family member pending a closed-door hearing in the Family Part of Superior Court in Hackensack.

The driver, who’s friends with the pair, received a summons and was released at the scene along with a front-seat passenger, Kane said.

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