2,350 Heroin Doses, Cash Seized, 4 Charged In Multi-Town Bust: Prosecutor

BRICK, NJ — Four people were arrested Tuesday and 2,350 doses of heroin were seized as law enforcement members from three towns and the county raided homes in Brick and Manchester as the result of an investigation into heroin distribution in Ocean County, Prosecutor Joseph Coronato announced Thursday.

Mathew Davis, 24, of Lakewood; Steven Stallworth, 29, of Asbury Park; Charles Novellano, 41, and Daniel Alvarado, 47, both of Brick Township, were arrested Tuesday during the raids, said Capt. Jack Sramaty of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation, which included detectives from the Northern Enforcement Unit of the Prosecutor’s Special Operations Group, members of the Brick Township Police Department Drug Enforcement Unit, the Manchester Township Police Narcotics Enforcement Team and the Lakewood Township Police Department, identified Davis and Stallworth as distributing heroin in the Ocean County area, Sramaty said.

The investigation also identified residences in Brick and Manchester as being used by Davis and Stallworth to store and distribute heroin, as well as a 2016 Jeep Cherokee the two were using to facilitate their drug distribution activities, he said.

Detectives were able to obtain no-knock search warrants for a home on Greenwood Loop Road and another in a Route 70 mobile home park, as well as Spruce Drive residence in Manchester, Sramaty said, as well as for the Jeep Cherokee, and they were executed Tuesday evening.

Novellano and Alvarado were located at the mobile home park residence, Sramaty said.

As a result of the investigation and the execution of the search warrants, police seized approximately 2,350 individual dosage units of heroin along with about $1,500 in cash, he said.

Davis, of Kerry Court, Lakewood, was charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin. He is being held at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, in lieu of $150,000 bail, no 10 percent option, as set by Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels, Sramaty said.

Stallworth, of 7th Avenue, Asbury Park, was charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to distribute and distribution of heroin. He is being held at the county jail in lieu of $150,000 bail, no 10 percent, set by Daniels, he said.

Novellano, of Stephan Road, Brick, was charged with possession of heroin and possession of heroin with intent to distribute and was released on a summons pending a future court date, Sramaty said.

Alvarado, of Whitesman Way, Brick, was charged with possession of heroin and possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and was released on a summons pending a future court date, he said.

Photos were not available for Novellano or Alvarado, he said.

Law enforcement members executing the search warrants included the detectives from the prosecutor’s Northern Enforcement Unit; members of the Brick Township Police Department Drug Enforcement Unit; the Brick Township Police K-9 Unit; the Brick Township Police S.E.R.T. Team; the Manchester Township Police Narcotics Enforcement Team; the Lakewood Township Police Department; the Ocean County Regional SWAT Team and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit, he said.

Photos via Ocean County Corrections Department