ATLANTIC COUNTY— A 2-month joint investigation by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns, and Narcotics Unit, the Pleasantville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Jersey State Police, and the Galloway Township Police Department, with the assistance of additional Federal, State, County, and Municipal law enforcement agencies, culminated this week in the arrests of 16 persons involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs and firearms in the Pleasantville and Egg Harbor City areas, and in disrupting a gun trafficking supply chain originating in southern U. S. states and ending in Atlantic County, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner announced today.
Beginning at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 30, 2017, Detectives of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Pleasantville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Jersey State Police, and the Galloway Township Police Department, with assistance from U. S. Homeland Security Investigations, U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office, and the Egg Harbor City, Mullica Township, Atlantic City, and Egg Harbor Township Police Departments—armed with arrest and search warrants—arrested 16 individuals and executed 5 search warrants in the Egg Harbor City area, deploying Atlantic County Regional SWAT, Atlantic City Police SWAT, and FBI SWAT units in the search warrant executions.
These arrests and search warrants resulted in the seizure of 21 firearms, including handguns, rifles, shotguns, and automatic weapons. Also recovered were firearm ammunition, high capacity automatic weapon magazines, approximately 10 ounces of cocaine, and over 10,000 bags of heroin and fentanyl.
The State alleges that this drug and gun trafficking organization was led by Kenneth J. Burrell, 39, of Buffalo Avenue, Egg Harbor City, who is charged as a Leader of a Narcotics Trafficking Network—a crime of the 1st degree.
Arrested in Atlantic County and in the State of Georgia last week were:
All of the arrests were made without incident.
Kenneth J. Burrell, Tyson Nieves, Scott Dorn, Leonard Allen, Brian Foster, Umar Salahuddin, Catoby Collier, Dawayne Fleming, and Isaiah Cooper, were arrested in Atlantic County, transported to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office upon arrest, processed for the arrest, and lodged in the Atlantic County Justice Facility on arrest warrants.
Timothy Davis, Samuel Davis Jr., Sarah A. Davis, Hiram Matos-Aviles, Rodney Cline Jr., and Tariek L. Mack were arrested in Atlantic County, transported to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, processed for the arrest, and released on summonses.
Sims was taken into custody in Georgia by Federal authorities, and remains in custody in Georgia, pending extradition proceedings.
The criminal charges that were issued against each defendant follows:
Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner said, “This investigation, and the arrests and seizures of contraband that resulted from it, displays the coordinated work done in Atlantic County by all levels of law enforcement to combat both the widespread drug epidemic and the gun violence problems that plague our country.”
A conviction for a 1st degree crime carries a potential penalty of incarceration in New Jersey State prison for 10-20. The potential penalty for a 2nd degree conviction is 5-10 years in prison, for a 3rd degree conviction 3-5 years in prison, and for a 4th degree conviction up to 18 months if imprisonment.
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