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Working with local law enforcers, agents with HSI Investigations Newark homed in on a neighborhood on West 3rd Street in Plainfield where the subset of the Bloods controlled the drug trade, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said.
For months, they witnessed and recorded sales, conducted undercover buys -- some by confidential informants -- and analyzed phone records, the U.S. attorney said.
They collected that bore common stamps with names such as "La Kush Cake" and "Pound Cake," as well as "Chicago Bulls," "Win for Life" and "Lemon Pepper," according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court.
HSI Investigations agents charged each of nine targets with selling all of the three illegal drugs, he said.
They were identified as:
Jacob Douglas, 42, Tarrell Strond, 42, and Tayeire Thomas, 26, all of Plainfield;
Luis Delvalle, 41, Pernell White, 36, and Jaquay Bell, 35, all of Piscataway;
Jerry Ross, 46, of Somerset;
Joseph Ross, 42, of Rahway;
Andre Gaddy, 31, of North Plainfield.
HSI tactical agents moved in to seize some of the defendants.
Douglas, White and Thomas, meanwhile, remained at large, Sellinger said.
A federal judge in Newark ordered the rest held pending further court action.
HSI Newark Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker said he was "proud of the incredible work we achieved with our partner agencies and prosecutors in this investigation."
They include the Union County Prosecutor’s Office and Plainfield police, as well as New Jersey State Police, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Perth Amboy police and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. Walker said.
"We are resolute in our strategy to dismantle drug trafficking organizations that degrade our New Jersey communities and endanger the health and safety of the American public,” he said.
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