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Federal jurors in Newark convicted Clarence Gaffney, 36, of Jersey City, of drug and weapons possession earlier this week following a three-day trial, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Police reported finding the coke and smack in Gaffney's underwear and shoe following an Oct. 5, 2019 traffic stop, Sellinger said.
He was arrested again, on Dec. 26, 2019, after officers caught him selling drugs on Martln Luther King Drive, the U.S. attorney said.
Each time, a judge ordered Gaffney's release under New Jersey's 2017 bail reform law.
He went into permanent custody on Feb. 21, 2020, after police during another traffic stop found a .40-caliber Glock 22 loaded with 11 rounds of ammo in a fuse compartment of Gaffney's car, Sellinger said.
The case went federal and then required a trial after Gaffney rejected a plea bargain.
As a result, he's looking at several years behind bars -- all of which must be served because there's no parole in the federal prison system -- when U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton sentences him on an upcoming date. Gaffney will remain in federal custody until and after then.
Sellinger credited members of the Drug Enforcement Administration, special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Jersey City police and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office with the investigation leading to the conviction, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassye Cole and Megan Linares of his Criminal Division in Newark.
The case was made, he said, under the auspices of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative (VCI), which federal authorities created four years ago for “the sole purpose of combating violent crime in and around” the city.
Together, federal, state, county, and local agencies collaborate “to strategize and prioritize the prosecution of violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community,” Sellinger said.
Participants include his office, Jersey City police, the FBI, the DEA and ATF, U.S. Marshals, the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, the Hudson County Department of Corrections and the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center.
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