Drug Investigators Seize $24,000, Bust Pair In Ridgefield Park Stop

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. – Narcotics detectives seized nearly $24,000 in suspected drug proceeds and arrested two New York City men after pulling their car over in Ridgefield Park.

Richard A. Almonte, Juan C. Mateo-Terrero
Photo Credit: *MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR*

Jerry DeMarco

10/24/2017 4:30 p.m.

Investigators from Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal’s office stopped the pair’s 2005 Toyota Sienna on Monday as part of a drug probe, the prosecutor said Tuesday.

They found the “suspiciously packaged” cash and took the unemployed Juan C. Mateo-Terrero, 33 of the Bronx and Richard A. Almonte, a 39-year-old handyman from Washington Heights, into custody, Grewal said.

The vehicle was impounded.

Mateo-Terrero and Almonte – who was arrested on forgery charges when he lived in Rochelle Park in 2004 – were ordered held in the Bergen County Jail pending a Nov. 8 first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.

Both are charged with money laundering.

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