Englewood, NJ
News
Four NJ Smoke Shops Raided, Five Busted For Selling Pot, THC Edibles Four NJ Smoke Shops Raided, Five Busted For Selling Pot, THC Edibles
Four NJ Smoke Shops Raided, Five Busted For Selling Pot, THC Edibles A group of owners and operators sold pot and THC products out of smoke shops in Englewood, Butler, Randolph, and Scotch Plains, charged authorities who busted them during a series of raids. Detectives assisted by the DEA seized seizure of hundreds of pounds of marijuana, THC edibles and THC wax/oil, along with $305,000 in illicit proceeds, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. They arrested co-owners Michael Ligus, 24, and Damian Harry Wesler Sr., 44, along with Damian H. Wesler Jr., 22, all of Ringwood, and were arrested, along with Anthony Garcia, 45, of Secaucus and Ezekiel Pau…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Hackensack, NJ
News
TRAGIC TOP 10: Fentanyl Deaths In NY, NJ, PA, MD Among Highest In Nation, Study Finds TRAGIC TOP 10: Fentanyl Deaths In NY, NJ, PA, MD Among Highest In Nation, Study Finds
Tragic TOP 10: Fentanyl Deaths In NY, NJ, PA, MD Among Highest In Nation, Study Finds New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland were among the 10 states with the most fentanyl deaths last year, a recent study found. All four were also among the states with the most deaths caused by the synthetic opioid since 2015, the non-profit Families Against Fentanyl found. The results led a former chief medical officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to urge Washington to "attack fentanyl overdoses with the same vigor and approaches as we do the coronavirus." Bipartisan leaders including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former CIA Directo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Villas-Lower Township, NJ
News
6,000 Bags Of Heroin, 'Ghost Gun' Seized In Cape May County Bust: Prosecutor 6,000 Bags Of Heroin, 'Ghost Gun' Seized In Cape May County Bust: Prosecutor
6,000 Bags Of Heroin, 'Ghost Gun' Seized In Cape May County Bust: Prosecutor About 6,000 bags of heroin worth $75,000 on the street were seized during an arrest in Cape May County, authorities said. Hector Perez-Heredia of Rio Grande was arrested Wednesday in connection with selling the heroin, according to Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland and Chief Paul Skill.  This investigation was initiated by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Task Force and assisted by members of the Cape May County Sheriff's Office, Middle Township Police Department Street Crimes Unit, along with the Drug Enforc…

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by Jon Craig
Brookfield, CT
News
CT Man Sentenced For Dark Web Fentanyl Distribution CT Man Sentenced For Dark Web Fentanyl Distribution
CT Man Sentenced For Dark Web Fentanyl Distribution A Connecticut man was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for trafficking drugs on the dark web, leading to a fatal overdose, and firearm charges. Barry Duclos, age 43, of New London County, was sentenced on Tuesday, Feb. 1, to 170 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to Leonard Boyle, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut. The US Attorney's Office said Duclos, a resident of Norwich, was found guilty of the following charges on July 30: Seven counts of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of fentanyl analogues Po…

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by Nicole Valinote
Brookfield, CT
News
CT Man Involved In Drug Ring Sentenced CT Man Involved In Drug Ring Sentenced
CT Man Involved In Drug Ring Sentenced A Connecticut man has been sentenced to 43 months in federal prison for his role in a southeastern Connecticut drug trafficking ring. New London County resident Victor Encarnacion, age 34, of Norwich, was sentenced on Thursday, Jan. 27, said Leonard Boyle, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut,  According to the US Attorney's Office, Encarnacion was busted during an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration into the distribution of narcotics and illegal possession of firearms in southeastern Connecticut.  The investigation, which included court-authorized wir…

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by Kathy Reakes
Gaithersburg, MD
Police & Fire
Six Men Face Federal Drug Conspiracy Charges In Maryland: Police Six Men Face Federal Drug Conspiracy Charges In Maryland: Police
Six Men Face Federal Drug Conspiracy Charges In Maryland: Police Six men are facing federal drug trafficking charges for allegedly operating a criminal organization that operates in the Capital Region and Montgomery County, according to officials. The men were allegedly distributing cocaine and other drugs in Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, according to the U.S. States Attorneys Office for the District of Maryland. Police also seized 12 firearms while serving the warrant on Jan. 21 The arrests were a culmination of a joint investigation between Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement …

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by Joe Gomez
Towson, MD
Police & Fire
DEA Agent Shot At In Baltimore: Report DEA Agent Shot At In Baltimore: Report
DEA Agent Shot At In Baltimore: Report A DEA Agent was shot at while doing surveillance in West Baltimore, according to CBS Baltimore.   Shots were fired at around 9:00 p.m. in the 2500 block of West Fayette Street on Dec. 29, officials say an unnamed agent was doing unspecified surveillance work when someone opened fire.  The DEA Agent was not injured. The incident is still under investigation. Visit to CBS Baltimore for the full story. 

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by Joe Gomez
Middletown, NJ
News
Feds: Pistol-Packing Ex-Con Busted At Jersey Shore ER Claiming To Be With DEA Feds: Pistol-Packing Ex-Con Busted At Jersey Shore ER Claiming To Be With DEA
Feds: Pistol-Packing Ex-Con Busted At Jersey Shore ER Claiming To Be With DEA An ex-con was charged federally after he showed up at a Jersey Shore emergency room for treatment packing a handgun and then claimed he was DEA agent, authorities said. Staff members at Hackensack Meridian Health Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank spotted Wesley Rucker, 34, of Tinton Falls carrying the gun in his waistband, federal authorities said. “Rucker showed the security officer two identification cards in a leather bifold wallet with the Drug Enforcement Administration (”DEA”) logo embossed on the outside,” a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives complaint on …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Hackensack, NJ
News
'Heavy Luggage' Bust: Puerto Rican Man Admits Plot To Smuggle 330 Pounds Of Coke Into Teterboro 'Heavy Luggage' Bust: Puerto Rican Man Admits Plot To Smuggle 330 Pounds Of Coke Into Teterboro
'Heavy Luggage' Bust: Puerto Rican Man Admits Plot To Smuggle 330 Pounds Of Coke Into Teterboro A Puerto Rican resident admitted coordinating a private shipment of more than 300 pounds of cocaine into Teterboro Airport, federal authorities said. Mariano Enrique Arroyo Perez, 29, took a deal from the government rather than risk a trial, pleading guilty Tuesday in federal court in Newark to conspiring to distribute five or more kilos of coke, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The conspiracy unraveled after four men not on the manifest boarded a private Teterboro-bound plane in Puerto Rico with "particularly heavy" luggage, raising the pilots' suspicions, Honig said. Investiga…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Jersey City, NJ
News
Jersey City Drug Dealer Gets 7 Years In Fed Pen Jersey City Drug Dealer Gets 7 Years In Fed Pen
Jersey City Drug Dealer Gets 7 Years In Fed Pen A drug-dealing ex-con from Jersey City must spend a plea-bargained seven years in federal prison. Hason Armfield, 43, must serve just about all of the sentence handed down via videoconference Monday in Newark because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Armfield was arrested following a raid on his York Avenue apartment by DEA agents and Jersey City police in June 2019, records show. An authorized search of the place turned up nearly a half-pound of cocaine, 3½ ounces of heroin and unspecified criminal proceeds, a complaint on file in federal court in Newark says. Authorities a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Middletown, NJ
News
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
Brookfield, CT
News
Fairfield County Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced To Federal Prison Fairfield County Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced To Federal Prison
Fairfield County Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced To Federal Prison A Fairfield County drug dealer has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for distributing fentanyl. Anthony Figueroa-Gonzalez, age 29, of Bridgeport, was sentenced on Monday, Nov. 8, to prison time followed by four years of supervised release, said Leonard C Boyle, Acting US Attorney for the District of Connecticut. According to court documents and statements made in court, in August 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force identified Figueroa-Gonzalez as a large-scale distributor of fentanyl. In September and Novem…

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by Kathy Reakes