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A SWAT team led a raid on the Grand Street apartment in Garfield that Zakee Murphy, 32, shares with fish tank technician Ryene Perry, 34, landing both in jail on various drug-related counts, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Murphy has been arrested dozens of times in multiple counties over the past decade, records show.
This time he's accused of using the Garfield home to stash the drugs along with more than $8,000 in proceeds.
Members of his Narcotic Task Force and local police seized the cash during the raid last Friday, Dec. 2, the prosecutor said.
They also collected 1,500 bags of heroin, several pounds of marijuana, cocaine and Xanax, Oxycodone and Adderall pills for sale, he said.
Murphy has a documented history of repeated drug-related arrests and other offenses running into the dozens.
Bergen County Jail records show these include arrests for:
- Credit card theft, credit card fraud and ID theft out of Hackensack, along with an outstanding warrant out of Clifton, in January 2013;
- Theft by deception, also out of Hackensack, along with warrants out of Clifton and Seaside Heights, in April 2013;
- Pot possession and distribution out of Hackensack in July 2013;
- Using offensive language in Hackensack in July 2013;
- Bergen County court arrears in November 2013;
- A motor vehicle charge in Bogota in February 2014;
- Pot possession out of Hackensack, first in May 2014 and then in December of the same year;
- Disorderly conduct and resisting arrest at Miller’s Ale House on Route 4 in Paramus in June 2015;
- Eluding police and weapons offenses out of Hackensack in September 2015;
- Falsely incriminating another, hindering arrest, improper behavior and driving while suspended out of Maywood (with outstanding warrants out of Maywood and Paramus) in October 2015;
- Arrears, again, out of Bergen County, along with driving while suspended (with warrants out of Paramus and Seaside Heights) in March 2016;
- Simple assault in Garfield in June 2016 (with a Maywood warrant);
- Improper behavior in Paramus in July 2016;
- Drug offenses, resisting and hindering arrest out of Garfield (with warrants out of Maywood, Hackensack, Garfield, Paramus and Seaside Heights) in June 2017;
- Drug offenses, again, in October 2017;
- Drug offenses, hindering and warrants out of Garfield, Paramus and Passaic in February 2018;
- A subsequent drug court violation in May 2018;
- Arrears and obstruction (along with warrants out of Maywood and Passaic) in January 2019;
- A drug court violation in February 2020.
Although a judge in Hackensack ordered both men released soon after their arrests, last week’s incident put Murphy back behind bars on Monday, Dec. 5, for violating the terms of drug court.
Murphy became the subject of a viral video recorded while he was being arrested on the boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach in the summer of 2020. Witnesses unaware of the circumstances claimed officers used excessive force.
The town police chief, in turn, praised the officers for “constant professionalism” after Murphy resisted arrest and defied repeated commands to cooperate.
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