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Upstate New York driver Gregory Valentine, 48, “appeared very nervous and was shaking” when officers stopped his 2012 Honda Accord on Goffle Road near Warburton Avenue, Detective Sgt. Matthew Hoogmoed said.
Asked where he was coming from, Valentine said he was “looking at trucks for his boss” at an excavating company, Hoogmoed said.
However, he “could not recall where that was or any other details,” the sergeant said.
While they waited for a K-9 unit to check the vehicle for evidence of drugs, Valentine said he “wanted to be honest with the officers and told them he had prescription drugs in his pocket” before handing over some Oxycodone, Hoogmoed said.
An eventual search of the vehicle turned up 50 bags of heroin, as well as two drug-weighing scales, he said.
Valentine faces several drug-related charges. He also received a quartet of summonses, including for not having insurance, the sergeant said.
Kyle Cooper, 32, of Denville also faces drug charges following his arrest – also on Goffle Road, but near Rea Avenue.
Officers who stopped Cooper spotted several empty heroin envelopes on the console of his 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee and track marks on his arms, Hoogmoed said.
Cooper, who was under the influence of the drug, told them he’d bought it on Governor Street but had used all of it, the sergeant said.
A search turned up six more bags, however, he said.
The third driver, 29-year-old Sergio Correa of Palisades Park, told officers who stopped his 2003 Infiniti G35 on Wagaraw Road near Ryerson Way that he was on his way home after visiting a friend a a hospital – the name of which he couldn’t remember, Hoogmoed said.
When he showed the officers his GPS as proof of his story, the sergeant said, it showed 4th Street in Paterson – which doesn’t have any hospitals nearby.
While speaking with Correa, officers spotted an empty bag of heroin on the floor of the car and a small rubber band that they said fell from his shoe.
In his right sock the officers found 10 bags of heroin, Hoogmoed said.
Correa, like Valentine, was released pending court action. Cooper was sent to the Passaic County Jail to await a detention hearing.
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