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Quaison Ellis, 25, pleaded guilty on Monday, July 15 to several charges related to two incidents, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a news release. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Investigators established surveillance outside a home on Hawthorne Lane in Barnegat on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. Ellis was seen leaving the home and then entered a vehicle's front passenger seat.
Detectives followed the vehicle to a home in Paterson and Ellis was seen meeting with a man. He returned to the vehicle and put a bag in the trunk before returning to Barnegat.
Police stopped the vehicle and searched it, seizing about 1,550 wax folds of heroin. Ellis was brought to the Ocean County Jail and released on bail.
More than a year later, Barnegat police and the county's SWAT team executed a search warrant on the Hawthorne Lane home on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022. Detectives found an undisclosed amount of cocaine and heroin.
Investigators also seized a Kel-Tec .32-caliber gun that was stolen from a vehicle in Stafford Township on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Ellis was brought back to the county jail and released again on bail.
Ellis pleaded guilty to possession of more than one-half ounce but less than five ounces of heroin with intent to distribute in the 2021 case. He also pleaded guilty to possession of more than one-half ounce but less than five ounces of cocaine with intent to distribute, being a certain person not to possess a firearm, and burglary in the 2022 incident.
Sentencing was scheduled for Friday, Sept. 13.
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