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A convicted killer who aimed to "flood the streets" of Trenton with a "motherlode" of heroin, Roberts, 53, was sentenced this week to what will be a minimum of 17 years in federal prison for his role in a drug ring that once dominated the capital city.
Federal jurors had convicted Roberts, of Delran, of drug conspiracy following a three-week trial in Trenton in October 2021.
U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner, in turn, sentenced the Bloods gang leader to a 245-month prison sentence this Thursday, June 13.
Roberts must complete at least 85% of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
He previously served several years of a 10-year state prison sentence for aggravated manslaughter after hiring two Monmouth County men to shoot and kill a rival dealer in 2001, records show.
Roberts also served time for a state drug-dealing dealing conviction.
This time, he was among more than two dozen people arrested by local, county, state and federal authorities in a massive sweep.
In addition to nearly a kilo and a half of heroin, the crime fighters seized a half-dozen or so guns, including an assault rifle stashed in a vehicle’s secret compartment.
Roberts and a partner had regularly collected, broke up and sold hundreds of “bricks” of heroin from a third associate, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
This included several pounds in a single delivery that Roberts referred to as the "motherlode," with which his partner said they could "flood the streets" of Trenton, the U.S. attorney said.
The ring primarily operated in the areas of Martin Luther King Boulevard, as well as on Sanford, Middle Rose and Southard streets and Hoffman and Coolidge avenues, he said.
They aped legitimate business, supplying brands popular with customers and offering discounts based on volume, investigators said at the time. Their product bore stamps such as Bad Bunny, Black Panther, Obsession and Super Bowl.
Rejecting a deal from prosecutors that would've likely sent him away for less time, Roberts took his chances at a trial.
That didn't go well for him: Roberts was found guilty of possessing, distributing and conspiring to distribute heroin.
Sellilnger credited special agents of the FBI Newark Division's Trenton Resident Agency, the ATF's Newark Field Division and police from Trenton, Princeton, Ewing and Burlington Township, as well as detectives from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, with the investigation leading to the conviction and sentence secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Ramey of his Criminal Division in Trenton.
Sellinger also thanked New Jersey State Police, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office and the New Jersey State Parole Board.
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