Newark – In two raids by Essex County sheriff’s detectives on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, six suspects were arrested and $150,000 in heroin and cocaine was seized.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that officers from his department’s Bureau of Narcotics staged Friday’s raid at an apartment located over a barber shop at 594 – 596 Broadway in the North Ward and early this morning at the intersection of Ross and Thorne streets in the South Ward. Both raids were the result of on-going investigations into drug trafficking in these areas.
“On Friday afternoon, the targets of our investigation, Alexis Rios, 38, and his alleged accomplice, Josthy Rivera, 26, were detained at their apartment over the barber shop as our officers executed a search warrant for the premises,” Sheriff Fontoura said. “Our search yielded 1865 grams of unprocessed cocaine, $649 in alleged drug proceeds and a wide variety of drug process and packaging materials.”
The sheriff’s detectives conducted a plainclothes surveillance operation in the South Ward this morning.
“Here, we observed three suspects, Antwan Scott, 41 of East Orange, Allen Thomas, 30, and, Chantrell Wright, 46, both of Elizabeth, loitering in the area,” Fontoura added. “A passerby, later identified as Daniel Encarnation, 28, of Elizabeth, engaged in conversation with the suspects, resulting in the exchange of cash for items from Allen’s 2018 Nissan Altima.”
Encarnation was followed from the scene and was found to be in possession of four heroin-filled envelopes, stamped ‘PEPSI’ in red ink. He was placed under arrest.
“Our officers then moved in to further investigate and found an additional 610 similarly marked decks of heroin and $541 in cash in the suspect vehicle,” the sheriff noted.
Scott, Allen and Wright were charged with the sale and possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 500 feet of a public housing complex and conspiracy to violate New Jersey’s narcotics laws.
Wright was also found to be the subject of four open warrants by the Elizabeth municipal court.
Rios and Rivera were each charged with possession of CDS, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Broadway Elementary School, maintaining and operating a drug distribution facility and conspiracy to violate New Jersey’s narcotics laws.
Scott, Allen, Wright, Rios and Rivera were all lodged at the county jail where they await bail hearings.
Encarnation was issued a summons and released on his own recognizance. He will be arraigned at a later date.