Photo Courtesy of Essex County Sheriff’s Office Above is Marko, a bomb-detecting K-9 German shepherd that worked with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — An illegal narcotics manufacturing facility was shut down and $150,000 in drugs were seized Aug. 22 as a law enforcement task force comprised of Essex County sheriff’s detectives and detectives from the Newark, Irvington and Bloomfield police departments filed multiple charges against a major narcotics trafficking suspect.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura said in an Aug. 22 press release that the task force executed search warrants at the home of Jovanni Perez, 39, located at 97 Hoyt St. in Kearny, and at the alleged location of his drug stash, 11 Ampere Parkway in East Orange, on Aug. 22 at 3:40 a.m.
“The Ampere Parkway location contained a large metal safe, which contained 1,628 grams of powder cocaine, 129 grams of heroin, 3,680 grams of marijuana, 77 Ecstasy tablets, $5,410 in cash, and a wide variety of drug packaging and processing materials and equipment,” Fontoura said. “This drug manufacturing facility, which was disguised with a bogus storefront, was both fortified and equipped with surveillance cameras and other electronic gear.”
Fontoura added that Perez was arrested during the simultaneous execution of the search warrant at his residence.
The suspect was charged with four counts each of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute and possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of North 13th Street School in Newark. Perez was further charged with operating a narcotics manufacturing facility, maintaining a fortified structure and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.
These are accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they enter a guilty plea or are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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