Freehold Man Convicted Of Dealing Heroin At Gas Station

A Freehold man was convicted Thursday on charges of heroin possession and distribution in a 2013 case in Brick Township, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato.

Antoine Henderson, 44, whose last known address was in Freehold, was found guilty by a Superior Court jury of possession of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to distribute; distribution of heroin; possession of heroin with intent to distribute within 500 feet of a recreational zone and distribution of heroin within 500 feet of a recreational zone, Capt. Jack Sramaty of the prosecutor’s office said.

The charges stemmed from an April 29, 2013 incident at the Shell gas station on Lanes Mill Road in Brick, Sramaty said.

Detective Robert Shepherd, Detective Brian Lash and Detective Sergeant Joseph Forrester from the Brick Township Police Department’s Drug Enforcement Unit testified they were conducting surveillance at the Wawa on the corner of Lanes Mill Road and Burnt Tavern Road when they saw a BMW with two occupants pull into the parking lot and stay for about 10 minutes without either occupant ever going inside the store. Instead, they were on the phone and looking around, they testified.

When they left the Wawa they drove across the street to the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. The detectives followed the BMW and watched as it traveled through the Dunkin Donuts parking lot and immediately exited, turning right onto Lanes Mill Road and then immediately turning into the Shell gas station.

The Shell gas station is located within 500 feet of Bernard Cooke Memorial Park in Brick Township, Sramaty said.

At the gas station, the BMW parked at a closed gas pump right behind a Lincoln. The driver exited the BMW and entered the rear driver’s side of the Lincoln for approximately 30 seconds and then got back inside the BMW, the detectives testified.

Shepherd and Lash said they approached the BMW while Forrester approached the Lincoln. The defendant, Henderson, was in the front passenger seat of the Lincoln and Forrester said when he approached, Henderson had $230 in his hands after giving $20 to the gas attendant. Henderson said the person who just entered the Lincoln was just an “old friend” who happened to see him at the gas station and came in to say “hi,” Forrester testified. Henderson also told the detective he never scheduled the meeting between the two of them.

The driver of the BMW gave conflicting stories as to whom he had just met with in the Lincoln and as a result, Shepherd asked him to get out of the BMW. Once he got out, all three detectives noticed a bulge in his waistband that, based on their training and experience, they believed to be a brick of heroin, they said. They arrested the driver, who was not cooperative, and a struggle ensued. After the struggle, a brick of heroin fell out of the left leg of his pants, the detectives said.

Both the driver and passenger of the BMW confirmed that they went to the Wawa and ultimately, the Shell gas station to purchase a brick of heroin from Henderson for $250. After a short period of deliberation, based on the testimony of the detectives from the Brick Township Police Department, the jury in Judge Rochelle Gizinski’s courtroom found Henderson guilty on all counts of the indictment.

After the guilty verdict, Henderson’s bail was discharged. He is being held in the Ocean County Jail without bail pending sentencing. His sentencing date has not yet been set.