Two suspects arrested in separate incidents by Essex County sheriff’s detectives were arraigned this morning on multiple weapons and drug charges.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that officers from his department’s Bureau of Narcotics conducted plainclothes surveillance operations in Bloomfield on Saturday and in Newark on Friday.
“Saturday’s operation in Bloomfield was staged at the intersection of Bloomfield Avenue and North 16th Street,” Sheriff Fontoura said. “At this location, our BON detectives observed Demetreous Lynch, 24 Irvington, illegally parked in his 2001 Cadillac Seville with improper safety glass.”
When the sheriff’s detectives asked Lynch to step out of his vehicle the officers immediately observed a fully loaded, .45 caliber Millennium semi-automatic handgun on the driver’s floorboard.
“The handgun was found to have been stolen out of Charlotte, North Carolina, on January 6, 2009,” Fontoura noted.
Lynch was placed under arrest and charged with the unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and receiving stolen property. He was also issued motor vehicle summonses for illegal parking and unsafe safety glass.
Friday’s undercover operation by the sheriff’s BON took place at 207 North 9th Street in Newark.
“Here, our BON detectives immediately recognized 34-year-old Aquil Horn of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from previous narcotics investigations,” the sheriff said. “On two occasions, while the suspect loitered in front of this abandoned structure, he engaged in conversations with a male and a female passersby.”
After speaking with the male, Horn walked down the alleyway of the building an opened an unlocked door where he removed items from a plastic bag and exchanged them for cash.
Minutes after his conversation with the female, Horn walked over to his 2007 Chevrolet Impala, removed additional items from the center console and exchanged them for cash.
“Believing they had just witnessed drug transactions, our narcotics team moved in to further investigate,” Fontoura said. “As Horn was detained, a plastic bag which contained 75 heroin-filled envelops, stamped ‘PASSION’ in black ink, was discovered just inside the building’s alleyway door.”
Horn was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of CDS with intent to distribute.
A canvas of the area for the passersby proved negative.
Sheriff’s K-9 “Yuma”, a narcotics-detecting German Shepherd, was dispatched to the scene and conducted an olfactory search of Horn’s car with positive results.
A search warrant for the contents of Horn’s vehicle is expected to be executed later today.
At today’s arraignments, cash bond only bails were set on Lynch ($45,000) and Horn ($50,000) who were ordered held at the county jail.