NJSP investigators found more than $20,000 cash in one defendant's car, along with a handgun and shotgun, in a sealed hydraulic compartment, the indictment says.
Before they were through, authorities had seized three-quarters of a pound of raw heroin and more than $55,000 in cash, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said Thursday.
Indicted on charges that include conspiracy, maintaining a heroin production facility, possession of heroin with the intent to distribute it and other related offenses:
- Marino Pimentel-Tejada, 35, of Paterson,
- Antoipis Pimentel-Tejada, 30, of Paterson,
- Isamar Batista, 26, of West New York,
- Yinsys Pimentel-Tejada, 27, of Paterson,
- Manuel Garcia-Tejada, 30, of Paterson,
- Nuris Dominguez-Lara, 34, of Paterson.
A seventh defendant, Robert Grady, 40, of Paterson, was charged with having heroin with the intent to sell it and having methamphetamine.
For the guns found in his car, Pimentel-Tejada also was charged with weapons offenses.
All but Grady are charged with money laundering.
Their cases will be handled in Superior Court in Paterson, following Tuesday's grand jury indictment out of Trenton.
Pimentel-Tejada, the accused ringleader, and Grady were arrested on June 1 during an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Trafficking North Bureau targeting Paterson heroin dealing, Porrino said.
They were carrying 135 bricks of heroin in a car driven by Grady when detectives moved in on them on 28th Street in Paterson, he said.
(A brick consists of approximately 50 single-dose glassines of heroin wrapped in a bundle.)
Grady also had meth, the attorney general said.
Warranted searches followed at Pimentel-Tejada’s home in the 1100 block of East 24th Street in Paterson and in his car, Porrino said.
The five other defendants were all there at the time, he said.
“When we take down a heroin mill such as the one dismantled in this case, we know we have struck deeper into the supply pipeline and have arrested large-scale suppliers,” the attorney general said. “Heroin is a scourge that is claiming far too many lives in New Jersey."
“All too often, these mills are not only responsible for manufacturing the poison that is heroin, but they are responsible for the violence that goes hand-in hand with drug trafficking,” added State Police Supt. Col. Rick Fuentes. “We will continue to shut these mills down, arrest those responsible, and work with our partners to ensure successful prosecution.”
Deputy Attorney General Brandy Malfitano presented the case to the state grand jury for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
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