Two alleged drug sellers and two alleged drug buyers were arrested last night by a joint task force comprised of detectives from the Bloomfield Police Department and the Essex County Sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that due to neighborhood complaints of drug trafficking in the area the task force conducted a plainclothes surveillance operation at the intersection of Belleville Avenue and Davey Street yesterday at 5:00 p.m.
Sheriff Fontoura noted that the officers observed Leon Chen, 19, of Bloomfield, loitering in the area. The sheriff added that Chen was soon approached by Michael Zambrano, 21 of Bloomfield.
Chen then opened the trunk of his 2003 Infiniti and handed a package to Zambrano. Chen next turned his attention to a 2014 Ford Escape that had just parked across the street and occupied by a male driver, later identified as Corey Nutile, 21 of Woodland Park, and his passenger, 24-year-old Jessica Pope also of Woodland Park. Chen exchanged items from his pocket with Nutile and Pope for cash.
Believing that they had just witnessed a narcotics transaction the task force detectives announced their presence and moved in to investigate.
The package that Chen had handed off to Zambrano contained a glass mason jar filled with marijuana. The trunk of Chen’s car contained several other mason jars filled with marijuana and Nutile and Pope were found to be in possession of small amounts of marijuana.
In all, 529 grams of marijuana worth in excess of $5,000 and drug processing materials were recovered. Chen’s vehicle and the $809 in cash he was holding were also seized.
Chen and Zambrano were each charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. They were also charged with two counts each of the sale of CDS, the sale of CDS within 1000 feet of Bridges Academy at Forest Glen and conspiracy to violate New Jersey’s narcotics laws.
Nutile and Pope were each charged with possession of CDS.
All four suspects were issued summonses and released on their own recognizance.
The four suspects will be arraigned on Thursday’s charges on April 30th.