A 36-year-old Newark man was arrested this afternoon by Essex County sheriff’s detectives and multiple drug charges were filed against him.
According to authorities, following numerous neighborhood complaints of open-air narcotics trafficking, officers from Bureau of Narcotics conducted a plainclothes surveillance operation on 9th Avenue and South 13th Street Wednesday.
Officials say at that location, Jovan Phillips, 36, of Newark, was observed loitering near the intersection. When a male passerby engaged the suspect in conversation Phillips walked over to a nearby orange traffic cone, removed items that had been secreted within it and exchanged them with the passerby for cash. When sheriff’s detectives announced their presence, Phillips ran from the scene and climbed the fire escape of a townhouse, located at 113 South 13th Street, until he made it to the roof.
According to authorities, with the assistance of the Newark Fire Division, Phillips was escorted down from the roof without further incident.
A search of the traffic cone yielded a large plastic bag that contained 116 heroin-filled envelops, stamped ‘FIRE BALL’ in blue ink, 24 vials of ‘crack’ cocaine and four bags filled with marijuana with a street value of $1500.
Phillips was also found to be in possession of $77 in alleged drug proceeds.
Police charged Phillips with three counts each of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute and possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Donald Payne Technical School. Officers also charged him with resisting arrest and was found to be the subject of three Superior Court warrants for violation of parole and prior weapons charges.
A canvass of the area for the passerby proved negative.
Officials say Phillips is lodged at the county jail where he awaits a bail hearing.