Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that members of the Atlantic City Task Force and federal agents of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations have arrested a man on first-degree drug charges after seizing half a kilo of cocaine that allegedly was mailed to him and finding 120 pounds of marijuana in a shed at his home.
Jurggen Thomas, 23, was arrested yesterday afternoon at his residence on West Jersey Avenue in Egg Harbor Township.
He is charged with first-degree possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, first-degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, second-degree conspiracy to distribute cocaine, third-degree possession of cocaine, and third-degree possession of marijuana.
Thomas was lodged in the Atlantic County Jail.
The joint investigation began after HSI intercepted a suspicious package that was mailed from Haiti to an address in Egg Harbor Township via UPS delivery services.
The package was found to contain half a kilo of cocaine. Members of HSI and the ACTF, including the New Jersey State Police TEAMS South and Canine Units, coordinated a controlled delivery of the cocaine yesterday to the address on the parcel. That turned out to be the home of a friend of Thomas, whose address Thomas allegedly used to receive the package.
A second controlled delivery was subsequently conducted at Thomas’ home, where Thomas accepted the parcel and was arrested. A search of the residence where Thomas lives revealed five large bundles containing a total of 120 pounds of marijuana in a small shed in the backyard.
The first-degree drug charges carry a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $150,000, while third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.