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20 Indicted In Fentanyl, Heroin Ring That Fueled Drug Use Across North Jersey: AG
Twenty people have been indicted in the sweeping takedown of opioid mills that fueled drug distribution across North Jersey, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Wednesday, March 5.
ALSO SEE: 23 People Arrested In Another Massive NJ Drug Bust — Fentanyl, Guns, Seized, Prosecutor Says
The indictment, handed down by a state grand jury, includes 53 charges ranging from racketeering and drug trafficking to weapons offenses and financial crimes. Authorities say the suspects were part of the Rodriguez, Sanchez, and Gutierrez Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO), which operated from A…
Violent NJ Human Trafficking Rings Dismantled Where Women, Teens Were Forced Into Sex: AG
Seven people have been arrested in the dismantling two human trafficking rings, one in North Jersey and one in South Jersey, authorities said.
The rings were based in Essex County and Cumberland County, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said at a news conference on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Khailah Meekins, 21 and Donte Barkley, 28, both Newark residents, trafficked two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old in Essex County, Platkin said. Meekins and Barkley arranged sexual encounters for the girls through mobile apps that included online ads featuring nude photos of the minors. The girls would be…
$1.1M In Drugs, 5 Firearms, $65K Seized From NJ Man, Prosecutor Says
A 35-year-old Mercer County man is facing a slew of charges after investigators uncovered $1.1 million in drugs, five handguns, and $65,000 in cash from him, authorities said.
James Nalbone Jr., 35, of Hamilton Township, was arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 7, following a month-long investigation, Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Theresa L. Hilton said.
Detectives detained Nalbone at his home on Byron Avenue and executed a search warrant, Hilton said. Sgt. Tom Paglione's K-9 partner, Indy, gave positive indications of a drug odor at multiple locations within the premises, poli…
Again: Big Purple Bud Bus Guy, Woman Arrested After Series Of Raids Across NJ, NY, Cops Say
The New York owner of a popular cannabis company known for its fleet of purple buses and vans was taken into custody, as was a woman, on Wednesday, July 10, following a series of raids across New Jersey and New York, authorities said.
Searches on Bill Schlette’s Bud Bus Inc. locations Hewitt, Manahawkin, Keyport, and West Nyack, NY turned up $200,000 in cash, according to West Milford Police Capt. Parrello.
Back in May, West Milford police executed search warrants at five Bud Bus locations in town where 150 pounds of marijuana were seized, along with $11,000 in cash, police said. A warrant …
Mass Amounts Of Cocaine, $17K Seized From Mom-Son Duo In Bloomfield, Newark SWAT Raids: Cops
Detectives have put a stop to one family's cocaine distribution business in a series of raids across Essex County Tuesday, July 9, authorities said.
More than 10,000 vials of cocaine, several hundred grams of cocaine, $17,600 in cash and a handgun with an extended magazine were seized by detectives, ultimately leading to charges against Edwin Medina, 32 and his mother, Sandra Almodovar, 51, both of Newark, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II announced.
Detectives from the ECPO Narcotics Task Force first seized more than a kilo of suspected cocaine in a series of…
Busted: Reputed Trinitarios Members Living In Fort Lee Charged In Major Drug Ring Takedown
A trio of Trinitarios street gang members who shared an apartment in Fort Lee slung fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin on both sides of the Hudson River before being busted last week, federal authorities charged.
Ernesto Adon Martinez, 38, Luis Arismedy Gomez Torres, 28, and Deury Luis Gomez Torres, 25, drove back and forth "on a near-daily basis" between Fort Lee and an apartment just off Dyckman Street in the Fort George section of Manhattan where drugs were packaged and stashed, they said.The Trinitarios emerged in New York City in the 1990s as protection against rival gangs such as th…
Feds: Nine Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Fentanyl, Coke, More At Open-Air Drug Market
Nine reputed members and associates of the Sex, Money, Murder street gang were charged by Homeland Security agents in New Jersey with peddling fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine at an open-air drug market.
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.
…
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds
A California man was minutes from a dropoff after driving more than a dozen pounds of fentanyl and heroin cross country to New Jersey when he was stopped in Fort Lee for running a stop sign, authorities said.
Timothy Alan Blank, 54, of Reseda, CA, made it 2,800 miles before Fort Lee police pulled his SUV over in Englewood Cliffs north of Sylvan and Myrtle avenues last Friday, March 8, according to a federal complaint.
A Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 directed officers to the trunk, where it says they found the five kilos wrapped in five bricks.
Blank collected the wrapped $195,000 of heroin a…