Middletown, Hazlet Men Found With Heroin at Rt. 36 Gas Station, Police Say

HAZLET, NJ - A Middletown man and a Hazlet man were arrested last week in Hazlet after police said they found them with 41 wax folds of suspected heroin on them, Hazlet police said. Christian Nietschke, 23, of Church Lane in Middletown, and Ryan Broderick, 25, of Parkview Drive in Hazlet were arrested Monday, April 10.

A Hazlet patrol officer was investigating suspicious activity in the parking lot of the Woroco gas station on Hwy. 36 and Laurel Ave., police said. Broderick and Nietschke were in a car in the parking lot. The heroin was found in the car being operated by Broderick after he consented to a search of the vehicle, Hazlet police said.

The drug was stamped "money bags." They also had a hypodermic syringe on them, police said.

The next day, Tuesday, April 11, in an unrelated incident, a Holmdel man was arrested was arrested in Hazlet for having 107 pills of Tramadol, an addictive pain killer. A Hazlet police officer stopped a car driven by Michael Furlong, 37, for a motor vehicle violation on Middle Road. The officer, Ptl. Robert Dickens, was familiar with Furlong from a previous encounter and a warrant check on Furlong revealed that he had four active warrants, police said. A search by Ptl. Dickens revealed the pills in his front pants pocket, said Hazlet police spokesman Lt. Robert Mulligan.