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Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier
Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier UPDATE: A major drug trafficker from Somerset County who led investigators on a high-speed chase admitted moving massive amounts of heroin into New Jersey, federal authorities said. Authorities targeted William T. Bouza, 45, of Watchung, in early 2019 after intercepting 33 pounds of heroin stashed in a secret compartment of a Mercedes shipped on a car carrier to New Jersey from California, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Bouza was waiting for the drugs in Union but bolted after sensing something fishy, an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The following mont…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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$15,000 In Hidden Drug Cash Seized From Philly Driver Busted Near GWB, Authorities Say $15,000 In Hidden Drug Cash Seized From Philly Driver Busted Near GWB, Authorities Say
$15,000 In Hidden Drug Cash Seized From Philly Driver Busted Near GWB, Authorities Say A construction worker from Philadelphia had $15,000 in suspected drug money stashed in a secret compartment of his vehicle when he was stopped in Fort Lee, authorities said. Narcotic Task Force members who zeroed in on Anderson German-Javier, 27, as part of an investigation also found small amounts of heroin and fentanyl in the electronically-operated “trap,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. They charged him with money laundering and drug possession and released German-Javier pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. The cash, meanwhile, was …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Dealer Seized In Largest Drug Bust In Atlantic County History Takes Plea Dealer Seized In Largest Drug Bust In Atlantic County History Takes Plea
Dealer Seized In Largest Drug Bust In Atlantic County History Takes Plea A dealer who had more than 45 combined pounds of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine seized from his home in the largest drug bust in Atlantic County history will head to federal prison later this year, authorities said. Ricardo Clavijo, 40, and his brother, Christopher Gonzalez of Pleasantville, were arrested last summer when nearly 24 pounds of cocaine, 12 pounds of fentanyl and 9½ pounds of heroin were found in Calvijo's basement during a DEA-led raid of his Egg Harbor Township home. Members of the strike force also seized a .45-caliber handgun, a loaded magazine for the weapon, a 9mm 50-round …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ State Police Bear No Responsibility In Driver's Fatal Medical Episode Off Rt 80: Grand Jury NJ State Police Bear No Responsibility In Driver's Fatal Medical Episode Off Rt 80: Grand Jury
NJ State Police Bear No Responsibility In Driver's Fatal Medical Episode Off Rt 80: Grand Jury New Jersey State Police bear no responsibility for the death of a diabetic Paterson driver who had a medical episode in the back of their cruiser following a traffic stop outside their barracks, a state grand jury has found. The troopers had handcuffed Sergio Rodriguez, 51, and led him to their marked SUV after finding heroin in his car during a stop outside their substation on Minnisink Road, just off Route 80 in Totowa, on June 27, 2020. Rodriguez had been using a cellphone while driving, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Body camera footage shows a trooper aski…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Lehigh Valley Drug Dealer Convicted In Bucks Victim's Heroin, Fentanyl Overdose Death Lehigh Valley Drug Dealer Convicted In Bucks Victim's Heroin, Fentanyl Overdose Death
Lehigh Valley Drug Dealer Convicted In Bucks Victim's Heroin, Fentanyl Overdose Death A 46-year-old man from the Lehigh Valley was convicted of providing the drugs that led to the overdose death of a 23-year-old man in Bucks County, authorities said. Jose D. Maldonado, of Easton, sold the victim and his friend drugs containing heroin/fentanyl the day before he died in Nov. 2019, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said. Maldonado was charged with drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, involuntary manslaughter, and other related offenses. State troopers responding to the St. John's Lutheran Church cemeter…

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by Nicole Acosta
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4 Men Arrested For Selling Fentanyl-Laced Heroin To Actor Michael K. Williams 4 Men Arrested For Selling Fentanyl-Laced Heroin To Actor Michael K. Williams
4 Men Arrested For Selling Fentanyl-Laced Heroin To Actor Michael K. Williams Four men have been arrested and charged in connection with the fatal overdose death of actor Michael K. Williams, according to a release by the US Department of Justice. All four men were taken into custody on Tuesday– including one defendant who was arrested in Puerto Rico, according to the news release. Williams, 54, died of acute drug intoxication Sept. 6, according to the New York City medical examiner's office. The office previously ruled the death accidental and no foul play was suspected according to statements by law enforcement in the days and weeks following his death. Three o…

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by Jillian Pikora
Police & Fire
SMACKDOWN: 23 Arrested In Takedown Of PA Heroin Ring That Caused Weekend Of 100 Overdoses SMACKDOWN: 23 Arrested In Takedown Of PA Heroin Ring That Caused Weekend Of 100 Overdoses
Smackdown: 23 Arrested In Takedown Of PA Heroin Ring That Caused Weekend Of 100 Overdoses A major drug ring that supplied mass amounts of tainted heroin that made NARCAN ineffective and caused more than 100 overdoses in just one weekend has been dismantled, authorities in Berks County announced. "Operation SmackDown" was launched in September 2021, when the 101 heroin/fentanyl overdoses overwhelmed Reading's hospital systems and left three victims dead and the rest with life-threatening symptoms, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said at a press conference. A leading addiction doctor called the overdoses an "outright poisoning," Adams said. The symptoms caused low he…

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by Cecilia Levine
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Dealer Who Sold Jersey Shore Woman Fatal Dose Of Heroin Gets 15 Years Without Parole In Fed Pen Dealer Who Sold Jersey Shore Woman Fatal Dose Of Heroin Gets 15 Years Without Parole In Fed Pen
Dealer Who Sold Jersey Shore Woman Fatal Dose Of Heroin Gets 15 Years Without Parole In Fed Pen A drug dealer who substituted fentanyl for heroin, killing a Jersey Shore woman, must spend more than 15 years in federal prison. Quasaan Bethea, 35, of Trenton, will have to serve out just about all of his plea-bargained 188-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The 39-year-old Englishtown victim bought the fatal dose – in a package stabbed “CAMEL” – from Bethea and Tarashanna Blake in May 2018, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Englishtown police who responded to a report of an overdose death soon after found several folds of “CAMEL” and some em…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Drugged Driver Takes Plea In Route 23 Gas Station Crash That Killed Dad, Teenage Son, Attendant Drugged Driver Takes Plea In Route 23 Gas Station Crash That Killed Dad, Teenage Son, Attendant
Drugged Driver Takes Plea In Route 23 Gas Station Crash That Killed Dad, Teenage Son, Attendant UPDATE: A drug-addicted Sussex County driver who killed a father, son and gas station attendant in a horrific crash on Route 23 in Wayne two years ago will be sentenced to a minimum of 25½ years without parole after pleading guilty Friday to three counts of aggravated manslaughter, authorities said. Jason Vanderee, 29, told a state judge in Paterson that he’d used heroin and fentanyl in combination with other drugs when he blacked out behind the wheel on Feb. 19, 2019. Jon Warbeck, a former Carlstadt firefighter from Fair Lawn and his 17-year-old son, Luke, of Lincoln Park, had stopped for…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Hardcore Jersey Shore Ex-Con Gets Mandatory 8 Years For Dealing Fentanyl-Laced Heroin Feds: Hardcore Jersey Shore Ex-Con Gets Mandatory 8 Years For Dealing Fentanyl-Laced Heroin
Feds: Hardcore Jersey Shore Ex-Con Gets Mandatory 8 Years For Dealing Fentanyl-Laced Heroin A Jersey Shore ex-con who admitted boosting heroin he sold on the street with deadly fentanyl was sentenced Friday to no less than eight years in federal prison. Derrick Norwood, 59, of Neptune has already spent much of the past 25 years behind bars for a host of convictions out of Monmouth County for aggravated assault, robbery and burglary, as well as major drug and weapons offenses, among other crimes, records show. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson sentenced him via a videoconference from Trenton to 100 months in a federal penitentiary for slinging fentanyl, the synthetic …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Philly Man Arrested For Selling Heroin, Fentanyl To Einstein Hospital Patient Philly Man Arrested For Selling Heroin, Fentanyl To Einstein Hospital Patient
Philly Man Arrested For Selling Heroin, Fentanyl To Einstein Hospital Patient A Philadelphia man was arrested for selling and delivering heroin and fentanyl to a hospital patient in Montgomery County, authorities said. Jeremiah Harris, 30, is facing multiple felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and other charges related to drug trafficking. The investigation began on June 30 when Einstein Medical Center on West Germantown Pike notified East Norriton Township police that hospital staff had seized illegal narcotics that day, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and East Norriton Township Police Chief Brandon Pasq…

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by Nicole Acosta
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Baby, Toddler Swallow Heroin/Fentanyl, Harrisburg Police Say Baby, Toddler Swallow Heroin/Fentanyl, Harrisburg Police Say
Baby, Toddler Swallow Heroin/Fentanyl, Harrisburg Police Say A mom was in custody and another man sought by police after two children ingested heroin and fentanyl, authorities in Harrisburg said. Harrisburg police were called to 2nd and Market streets around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, on reports of an unresponsive baby, Harrisburg police said. While rendering medical attention to the baby, one of the officers noticed a foreign object inside of the child's mouth.  The officer removed the object and identified it as a small packet, commonly used for storing drugs -- most commonly heroin/fentanyl, authorities said.  The baby was immedi…

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by Cecilia Levine