Six male suspects arrested on Friday as the result of two separate investigations conducted by a law enforcement task force comprised of Essex County sheriff’s detectives and officers from the Bloomfield and Irvington police departments were arraigned today on multiple drug and weapons charges.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that the task force, supervised by officers from his department’s Bureau of Narcotics, staged a plainclothes surveillance operation at the intersection of Bloomfield and Watessing avenues in Bloomfield on Friday afternoon in response to numerous complaints of drug trafficking in the area.
“At that time, a 2003 Mercury SUV, driven by Hector Rivera, 40, of East Orange, and occupied by four other suspects, all from Newark, pulled up and parked,” Sheriff Fontoura said. “The five men sat in the vehicle for a while and when our detectives moved in to further investigate Rivera sped away in an attempt to elude our task force.”
The suspect vehicle pulled into a nearby parking with a single entry and exit point and was quickly boxed in by the officers.
“As our officers approached the vehicle, one of the passengers, later identified as Raymond George, 41, was observed throwing a box to the SUV’s floorboard,” Fontoura noted. “The contents of the box, 750 heroin-filled glassine envelops, stamped ‘GOYA’ in red ink, spilled out into clear sight.”
Rivera, George, along with Yyoung Moore, 37, Bryant Twitty, 45 and Jamar Jacobs, 41, were all placed under arrest without further incident.
All five suspects were charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Berkeley Elementary School and conspiracy to violate New Jersey’s narcotics laws.
Rivera was additionally charged with eluding police and possession of CDS in a motor vehicle. Twitty was found to be the subject of open warrants issued by the Newark and Ocean Township municipal courts.
Earlier on Friday, the sheriff’s BON task force executed a search warrant for 56F Broad Street in Newark.
“The target of our investigation, 34-trae-old Ronnie Wimberly, an alleged member of the Bloods street gang, was found in his bedroom along with two other males, later identified as Jerald Wiles, 24, of Elizabeth, and Rashawn Davis, 34 of Newark,” Sheriff Fontoura noted.
“In various locations throughout Wimberly’s apartment, our task force detectives discovered and seized 148 vials of ‘crack’ cocaine and a defaced and fully loaded, .45 caliber American Tactical semi-automatic handgun,” Fontoura added.
Wimberly was charged with possession of CDS, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Rafael Hernandez School, the unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a defaced weapon and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Wiles was found to be the subject of an open warrant issued by the Westfield Township municipal court and Davis was found to be the subject of an Essex County Superior Court warrant for robbery.
At today’s arraignments, cash bond only bails were set on all six suspects: Rivera ($400,000); George ($350,000); Moore ($350,000); Twitty ($350,000); Jacobs ($350,000); and, Wimberly ($500,000).
All six suspects were lodged at the Essex County jail along with Wiles and Davis who will have hearings on their open warrants at a later date.