Newark – As part of an on-going investigation into drug trafficking in the city’s North Ward, four semi-automatic weapons and more than $30,000 in edible marijuana were seized last night as Essex County sheriff’s detectives arrested three men and a female juvenile.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that officers from his department’s Bureau of Narcotics conducted a plainclothes surveillance operation at the intersection of Broadway and Bloomfield Place.
“A suspect, later identified as Louis Roselle, 36 of Newark, was observed standing in front of 95 Broadway and he was soon approached by Patrick Caloway, 21 of Morristown, who arrived at the scene in a 2008 Ford Edge,” Sheriff Fontoura said. “After a brief conversation, Roselle exchanged two green paper bags with Caloway for cash.”
Caloway was followed by the sheriff’s detectives back to the vehicle which was occupied by a 17-year-old female driver from Rockaway and rear seat passenger, Kahleel Sunderland, 18 from Morristown.
“As our officers approached the Ford the trio was holding and counting 1,503 grams of the edible marijuana which was packaged in silver strips much like some candy,” Fontoura noted.
The three suspects were placed under arrest and taken by some members of the law enforcement team to Veterans Courthouse for processing. While at the courthouse the sheriff’s detectives applied for and were granted a search warrant for Roselle’s second-floor apartment at 95 Broadway.
“Here, our officers discovered and seized four semi-automatic handguns, three of which were found to have been stolen out of Altoona and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and out of Norfolk, Virginia,” the sheriff added. “In addition to the guns, loaded with illegal hollow-point bullets, our officers also discovered another 1,500 grams of edible and leaf marijuana and a wide assortment of drug packaging and processing materials.”
Roselle was placed under arrest and charged with 20 criminal counts, including the unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon while committing a narcotics crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of hollow-point bullets, receiving stolen property, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, and the sale, possession and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance.
Caloway, Sutherland and the female juvenile 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 Barringer 9th Grade Academy, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 500 feet of a public housing complex and conspiracy to violate New Jersey’s narcotics laws.
Roselle, Caloway and Sutherland were lodged at the county jail where they await a bail hearing.
The juvenile was released in the recognizance of her mother.
**IMAGE:** Louis Roselle