'Operation Checkmate' Yields Another Cocaine Conviction On Jersey Shore 'Operation Checkmate' Yields Another Cocaine Conviction On Jersey Shore
'Operation Checkmate' Yields Another Cocaine Conviction On Jersey Shore A 55-year-old man from Keyport admitted to his role in a cocaine-dealing ring, authorities said. Mark Capichana pleaded guilty to selling cocaine on Tuesday, March 14, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.  Capichana was arrested as part of “Operation Checkmate,” a four-month-long cooperative, multi-jurisdictional investigation of cocaine sold in Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex counties as well as New York City. On Oct. 26, 2021, detectives made warranted searches at Capichana’s residence in Keyport and a business operated by Capichana, also located i…
Cocaine Was Smuggled In Children's Toy Boxes: Ocean County Prosecutor Cocaine Was Smuggled In Children's Toy Boxes: Ocean County Prosecutor
Cocaine Was Smuggled In Children's Toy Boxes: Ocean County Prosecutor Three Jersey Shore residents have been charged in a major cocaine-dealing operation, authorities said. The cocaine was smuggled in children's toy boxes, they said. A cooperative, multi-agency investigation identified four residences in Toms River as being used by Christian Bultron-Rios, 37, Christian Bultron-Carmona, 18, and Anfernee Guzman-Romero, 26, all of Toms River, to store and distribute cocaine, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. The investigation determined that this organization was importing large quantities of cocaine into the Ocean C…
Jersey Shore Man Sentenced For Selling Cocaine: Prosecutor Jersey Shore Man Sentenced For Selling Cocaine: Prosecutor
Jersey Shore Man Sentenced For Selling Cocaine: Prosecutor A Long Branch man was sentenced to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison for selling cocaine, authorities said. Johnny Rodriquez, 51, was sentenced on the charge of possession with intent to distribute on Friday, March 10, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago. A three-month-long 2021 investigation by the Monmouth County Narcotics and Criminal Enterprise Unit and Long Branch Police Department culminated in search warrants being executed at Rodriquez’s residence on North 5th Avenue in Long Branch,, Platinum Touch mechanic shop on Broadway in Long …
4½ Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized, Mexican Nationals Nabbed By DEA, Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives 4½ Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized, Mexican Nationals Nabbed By DEA, Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives
4½ Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized, Mexican Nationals Nabbed By DEA, Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives Federal agents took custody of two Mexican nationals from Texas who local authorities said were caught with several pounds of deadly fentanyl during a traffic stop in Little Ferry. Camerino Hernandez-Atanacio, 32, and Alexis Araujo-Atanacio, 19, both unemployed, had been living in a small house with an adjacent trailer in the West Texas town of Odessa, records show. DEA agents from New York City and Bergen County narcotics detectives arrested both men last Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into bulk drug shipments being moved through the area, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Mus…
Jersey Shore Man Admits Selling Cocaine: Prosecutor Jersey Shore Man Admits Selling Cocaine: Prosecutor
Jersey Shore Man Admits Selling Cocaine: Prosecutor A 45-year-old Jersey Shore man has admitted selling a large quantify of cocaine, authorities said. Mark Kelber, of Manalapan, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine in an amount greater than five ounces with intent to distribute, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Kelber was arrested as part of “Operation Checkmate,” a four-month-long cooperative, multi-jurisdictional investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, United States Drug Enforcement Administration – High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (H…
Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole
Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole The leader of a crew that slung cocaine and heroin in the Greenville section of Jersey City was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison. Jerome Powell, 43, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained 51-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. He and four accused members worked in the area of Columbia Park, moving the drugs from an undisclosed stash house to a home on Bartholdi Avenue that servied buyers, according to a DEA complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. Authorities built a case by recording street deals and picking off buy…
Dealer Admits Role In Major Ring That Moved Fentanyl, Meth, Coke By The Pound Into NJ From NYC Dealer Admits Role In Major Ring That Moved Fentanyl, Meth, Coke By The Pound Into NJ From NYC
Dealer Admits Role In Major Ring That Moved Fentanyl, Meth, Coke By The Pound Into NJ From NYC One of three Manhattan men accused of flooding four North Jersey counties with massive quantities of fentanyl, meth and coke admitted his role in the organization, authorities said. Juan Carlos Merced Moreno, 45, and his partners operated a fentanyl mill in Washington Heights that supplied traffickers in New Jersey with at least 25,000 pills that were distributed throughout the Garden State, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. And that wasn't all. Authorities discovered the operation during what began as an investigation into the Hudson County crew, which flooded the str…
Feds: 200 Pounds Of Coke, Fentanyl Seized In NJ Turnpike Stop Of NY Tractor-Trailer Driver Feds: 200 Pounds Of Coke, Fentanyl Seized In NJ Turnpike Stop Of NY Tractor-Trailer Driver
Feds: 200 Pounds Of Coke, Fentanyl Seized In NJ Turnpike Stop Of NY Tractor-Trailer Driver A tractor-trailer driver from Yonkers had nearly 100 kilos of cocaine and fentanyl combined when he was stopped for driving erratically on the New Jersey Turnpike near the Meadowlands, authorities said. Members of a special federal drug task force found the nearly 225-pound shipment after stopping Alejandro Nouel Lajud, 39, on the Turnpike in East Rutherford on Monday, Dec. 5, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. The drugs were divided into 95 brick-shaped packages each weighing a little over two pounds -- 70 of them containing cocaine and 25 holding fentanyl, Selling…
Drugs, Weapons Seized During Search Of Jersey Shore Condo: Police Drugs, Weapons Seized During Search Of Jersey Shore Condo: Police
Drugs, Weapons Seized During Search Of Jersey Shore Condo: Police A 50-year-old Jersey Shore man was charged with multiple drug and weapons offenses after a police raid on his home, authorities said. On Monday, Nov. 28, just after 6 a.m., the Brick Township Police Department made a warranted search on a residence in the Maple Leaf Condominium Complex. The warrant was the result of a drug investigation by the Street Crimes Unit and yielded an illegally possessed .40 caliber handgun, two high capacity magazines, ammunition, and over 100 grams of cocaine, Brick police said. The resident, Daryl Pierce, was charged with three counts of possession of a control…
Sheriff: Driver In $200,000 Paterson Cocaine Pickup Had Her Two Young Kids With Her Sheriff: Driver In $200,000 Paterson Cocaine Pickup Had Her Two Young Kids With Her
Sheriff: Driver In $200,000 Paterson Cocaine Pickup Had Her Two Young Kids With Her A Newark woman had her two young children with her when Passaic County sheriff's officers busted her and a companion who'd just collected a four-pound package of cocaine worth $200,000 in Paterson, authorities said. Sheriff Richard Berdnik said his detectives were watching as Gisela Arroyo Valentin, 35, pulled up to a targeted location in a Honda Civic and David Ventura, 39, of Paterson got out in the middle of the afternoon. Valentin waited while Ventura entered a building and then emerged a short time later with the cocaine, the sheriff said. Ventura was reaching for the front passenger …
Bizman Who Laundered $2.5M In Drug Money Through NJ, NY Gets Nearly 10 Years, No Parole Bizman Who Laundered $2.5M In Drug Money Through NJ, NY Gets Nearly 10 Years, No Parole
Bizman Who Laundered $2.5M In Drug Money Through NJ, NY Gets Nearly 10 Years, No Parole A Puerto Rican man must spend nearly a decade in federal prison for laundering more than $2.5 million in drug proceeds through New Jersey and New York. Osvaldo Villegas Rivera, 57, of Rio Piedras, conspired with others to move the money from Miami to Venezuela between 2017 and 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release on Friday, Oct. 28. "The proceeds consisted of five deliveries of bulk cash picked up in the New York and New Jersey area that Villegas knew to be traceable to the sale of cocaine," according to the release. Villegas "also employed a network of couriers to move t…
Detectives Seize 2,750 Folds Heroin, Cocaine, Gun, $8K In Lakewood Drug Bust Detectives Seize 2,750 Folds Heroin, Cocaine, Gun, $8K In Lakewood Drug Bust
Detectives Seize 2,750 Folds Heroin, Cocaine, Gun, $8K In Lakewood Drug Bust A 21-year-old man from Lakewood has been charged with numerous drug and weapons offenses, authorities said. Dayewon Crockam is accused of storing and selling illegal drugs, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. On Friday, Sept. 16, detectives made a warranted search on Crockam’s Lakewood residence. During the course of the investigation, detectives determined that Crockam would frequent a neighboring residence; Detectives were able to secure the consent of the neighbor to search that residence. As a result of the searches of both residences, detectives seized…