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Dyshawn Moss, 43, of Manchester, was found guilty of drug and weapons offenses, including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, following a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Trenton.
In addition to having an informant buy drugs from Moss, DEA agents used "physical surveillance, court-authorized location information, controlled purchases of narcotics, and lawfully intercepted communications," according to court papers on file in federal court in Trenton.
The "location information" came from a GPS planted on his car, investigators said.
The informant, meanwhile, had been working with authorities for months, providing "information about various narcotics traffickers operating in and around the Monmouth County area," the DEA said.
The agents finally moved in and arrested Moss on federal drug conspiracy charges outside his apartment in May 2019, records show.
Inside, they said, they found more than two pounds of fentanyl, nearly three pounds of heroin and nearly six pounds of cocaine, along with a 9mm Taurus handgun loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition, drug-packaging materials and more than $150,000 in dirty money.
A federal grand jury indicted Moss on drug and weapons charges in September 2019.
He rejected a possible deal from the government, went to trial and lost.
Moss, who's originally from Asbury Park, claimed on a Facebook page to having been "unlawfully arrest(ed) and unlawfully detained" since May 24, 2019.
He tried to suppress the evidence, saying the investigators had obtained it illegally, but those attempts failed.
U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp scheduled a March 29, 2023 sentencing for Moss on convictions of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
U.S. Attorney Phillip R. Sellinger credited members of the DEA and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office with the investigation leading to the conviction, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vera Varshavsky and Olta Bejleri of his Criminal Division in Newark.
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