An adult female, a juvenile male and an adult male were arrested on narcotics and weapons charges in two pre-dawn raids conducted by a law enforcement task force comprised of Essex County Sheriff’s detectives and Newark and Bloomfield police officers.
According to authorities, the task force responded to the 200 block of Nye Avenue at 5 a.m. armed with search warrants for alleged drug sale.
Upon arrival, officers entered a first-floor bedroom where they apprehended a 17-year-old male who was found in possession of a fully loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun. In a second-floor bedroom, Patrice Caldwell, 32, was placed under arrest when officers discovered and confiscated 1,950 heroin-filled envelopes, stamped ‘BLUE MAGIC’ in blue ink.
The second search warrant was executed on the 400 block of 13th Avenue at 6 a.m.
Once inside 28-year-old Almusal Carter’s bedroom, police seized a shoe bag containing 53 plastic jugs of ‘crack’ cocaine, 13 Ecstasy tablets, a cache of ammunition, a variety of drug processing materials and $406 in cash according to police.
Officials say the street value of the drugs seized this morning is in excess of $20,000.
The juvenile male was charged with the unlawful possession of a weapon and the unlawful possession of hollow point bullets. He is scheduled for a hearing in Family Court later today and may be remanded to the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center.
Police charged Caldwell with 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 Bragaw Avenue School.
Police charged Carter with two counts each of possession of CDS, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of JFK School and one count each of possession of hollow point bullets and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.
Police found Carter to have six open warrants issued by the Superior Court of New Jersey and the Newark municipal court for violation of the terms of his probation, willful non-support, assault and harassment.
Caldwell and Carter are being held at the county jail pending a bail hearing.