Heroin Bust Nets $90K, Submachine Gun, 5 Ocean County Residents: Prosecutor

Authorities seized 6,250 doses of heroin, $90,000 in cash and several weapons, including a Mac 10 submachine gun, and five Ocean County residents were arrested during a drug bust last week, the prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said the arrests were the result of a two-month cooperative multi-jurisdictional investigation into drug activity in the Ocean County area.

Search warrants were executed Thursday evening at an Arcadia Court home in Jackson and a Davina Court home in Lakewood, in addition to three vehicles authorities allege were being used for drug distribution.

Capt. Jack Sramaty of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, who is commander of the office's Special Operations Group, said authorities located a 2009 black Maxima in the area Chestnut Street and Route 9 in Lakewood, and tried to pull it over. Initially the driver, identified as Michael Lewis, 31, of Arcadia Court, Jackson, tried to elude the detectives, but he stopped after a short distance, Sramaty said.

Lewis was arrested, and a search of the car turned up about 1,800 doses of heroin and some cocaine, Sramaty said.

In coordination with the motor vehicle stop of Lewis, detectives from the Prosecutor’s Special Operations Group along with members of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and the Jackson Township Police Department executed the no-knock search warrant at Lewis' Arcadia Court home, he said. Just prior to executing it, investigators saw a woman leave the residence, he said.

Megan Crudup, 24, of Arcadia Court, was arrested; the search resulted in the seizure of quantities of illegal steroids, prescription pills and marijuana along with approximately $20,000 in cash, Sramaty said.

Meanwhile, detectives preparing to execute the search warrant at the Davina Court address in Lakewood saw the 2015 red Honda Civic leaving the area of the residence they were planning to search, with three people in the car. They were identified as Sherod Coleman, 32, of Davina Court; Diane Hunt, 53, and Sabrina Henderson, 34, both of Brick Township, he said.

The car was pulled over, and a search led to the seizure of 4,450 doses of heroin and a Mac 10 submachine gun, Sramaty said, along with a loaded high-capacity magazine for the Mac 10.

Coleman, Hunt and Henderson were arrested, he said.

Members of the Lakewood Police SWAT Team executed the warrant at the Davina Court residence and seized about $2,400 in cash, Sramaty said.

During the investigation, detectives learned of a safe deposit box they allege Lewis was using to store proceeds from his illicit drug distribution activities, and on Friday, the safe deposit box was seized via a search warrant, Sramaty said. It contained about $70,000 in cash, he said.

The 2014 Chevrolet Impala, the 2009 black Nissan Maxima and the red 2015 Honda Civic were all seized pending forfeiture proceedings, he said.

Sramaty said the charges against the five are as follows:

• Lewis is charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin over one-half ounce with the intent to distribute, possession of cocaine and eluding a police officer. Superior Court Judge James M. Blaney set bail at $125,000, no 10 percent, which Lewis subsequently posted, according to Ocean County Corrections Department records.
• Coleman is charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin over one-half ounce with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during a CDS offense, possession of a high-capacity magazine and unlawful possession of a weapon. Blaney set bail at $200,000 cash only, and Coleman remained in the Ocean County Jail as of Wednesday.
• Hunt, of Kentwood Boulevard, Brick, is charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin over one-half ounce with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during a CDS offense, possession of a high-capacity magazine and unlawful possession of a weapon. Blaney set bail at $50,000, no 10 percent, which she subsequently posted, according to jail records.
• Henderson, of Tammy Court, Brick, is charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin over one-half ounce with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during a CDS offense, possession of a high-capacity magazine and unlawful possession of a weapon. Blaney set bail at $50,000, no 10 percent, which she subsequently posted, according to jail records.
• Crudup, of Arcadia Court, Jackson, is charged with possession of marijuana, and she was released on a summons.

Sramaty, who serves as the chairman of the New Jersey County Commanders Association, said the investigation included members of the Prosecutor's Special Operations Group, the Northern and Southern Enforcement Units; the Lakewood Police Street Crimes Unit; the Lakewood Police SWAT Team; the Jackson Township Police Department and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department.

“This investigation is just another excellent example of what can be achieved by law enforcement when local and county police agencies join forces to combat the distribution of narcotics in Ocean County,” he said.

Photos via Ocean County Corrections Department, supplied by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office