Police called to a home on Rochelle Avenue on Wednesday, July 10 just after 9:45 a.m., and found James A. Mara unresponsive and unconscious at the scene, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Mara was pronounced dead by paramedics. Indicators of a possible drug overdose were noted, and detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotic Task Force were notified.
Detectives found that Mara ingested fentanyl before his death, and the investigation found that Raequann Reid had distributed Mara which caused his death, according to Musella.
On Thursday, July 25, detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotic Task Force and the Rochelle Park Police Department executed a search warrant at Reid's Paterson home.
Reid was arrested and charged with first-degree strict liability in a drug-induced death, and five counts of third-degree distribution of fentanyl. He was remanded to the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
An Oradell native, Mara had worked as a hub manager for Yusen Logistics, a supply chain company based in Secaucus, his obituary on the Volk Leber Funeral Home website says. Mara's Facebook page shows he studied economics at Rutgers in New Brunswick.
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