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Officer Robert Littlejohn Jr. stopped a car driven by 22-year-old Michael Rastelli of Stony Point on Graham Terrace around midnight Thursday to ask what he and two young occupants were up to, Police Chief Robert Kugler said.
Littlejohn immediately smelled marijuana, the chief said.
The officer found a large plastic bag full of pot, a box of zip-lock freezer bags, a vape with THC oil and $2,000 in suspected drug cash, Kugler said.
Township police learned that the trio were "meeting with others from Saddle Brook who may have been participating in and/or associated with the marijuana possession and/or sale of it," the chief said.
Rastelli was charged with various drug counts -- including having the pot and THC oil near an elementary school (Long Memorial), he said.
"The good news is that because of the attentive and thorough patrol duties of Officer Littlejohn, we intercepted a pound of marijuana that will not have a chance of illegally getting into the hands of others," Kugler said.
"The bad news is that it is likely that we have uncovered distribution and/or use of controlled dangerous substances within our local community, which we will continue to vigorously and diligently investigate."
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