Child Welfare Check Turns Up Marijuana, Hashish Distribution In Brick: Police

BRICK, NJ — A welfare check on children at a Briar Mills Drive home turned into a drug arrest for one of the residents of the home, after police found marijuana and hashish, Brick Township police said Wednesday.

Marc Roshop, 20, has been charged with possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana; possession with intent to distribute marijuana; possession with intent to distribute hashish; possession with intent to distribute CDS in a school zone and within 500 feet of a public park, and possession of CDS paraphernalia, Sgt. Neal Pedersen, a spokesman for the Brick Township Police Department, said.

Pedersen said Brick Police Officers John Scott and Nicole Borden were called to an address on Briar Mills Drive about 6:30 p.m. on Monday to assist the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP), to check on the welfare of the children there. Police did not give further details on the ages or number of children.

Briar Mills Drive is right near Briar Mills Park and Brick Memorial High School.

When the officers entered the residence, they smelled a strong odor of raw marijuana emanating from one of the bedrooms, he said.

Scott and Borden determined the bedroom belonged to Roshop, and in it they observed various smoking devices commonly used to ingest CDS, as well as several mason jars containing raw marijuana, Pedersen said.

A large duffle bag containing a large amount of packaged marijuana also was discovered, he said.

The Brick Township Drug Enforcement Unit responded to the scene to assist in the investigation, and the officers seized the following, Pedersen said:

• About 7 pounds of marijuana
• 12 ounces of wax papers containing hashish
• 115 black sealed plastic bags containing 1 gram each of hashish
• Several CDS smoking devices.

Hashish comes from the resins of the same cannabis plant that produces the leaves and flowers that are marijuana, according to the website Narconon.com. The resins are collected and compressed into sticks, balls or blocks, and is most often a hard, dry, crumbly substance, usually brown but sometimes dark yellow, according to the site. It can also be an oily, almost black block of material, according to the website.

Roshop's bail was set at $100,000, no 10 percent option by Municipal Court Judge Joseph Grisanti and he was taken to the Ocean County Jail, where he remained Wednesday afternoon.

The Division of Child Protection and Permanency are conducting their own investigation for the welfare of the children, Pedersen said.

Marc Roshop via Ocean County Corrections Department; Hashish and marijuana photo via Brick Township Police