2 Busted, $11K In Drugs Seized In Mercer County: Prosecutor

Two people were arrested and heroin, pills, guns and cash were seized as a seven-month narcotics investigation came to a conclusion, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced on Tuesday.

Ruben Stouth, 53, of Trenton, was the target of the investigation. After detectives working the case said they saw him make several apparent drug deals in the Spring Street area, they attempted to apprehend him.

He was captured after a brief foot chase at the corner of Passaic Street and Casper Alley, authorities said.

Officers then searched the Dominican Salon and Barber Shop, 215 Spring Street, which they said was a working heroin production and packaging facility.

Authorities said they seized approximately 40 bricks of heroin, five grams of raw heroin, a loaded .38 special revolver, $1,239 in cash, 176 tramadol pills, drug ledgers and various items used for packaging heroin, including stamps, stamp pads, boxes of empty glassine bags, rubber bands and tape.

Detectives also executed a search warrant at Stouth’s home on New York Avenue, where they said they found a loaded Colt .45 handgun, a metal drug press used to “re-rock” narcotics, and paperwork in Stouth’s name. Two bundles of suspected heroin were located in the trunk of Stouth’s 2011 BMW 328 and a search of Stouth revealed nine and a half OxyContin pills and $883 in cash.

The seized drugs have an approximate street value of $11,360, according to Onofri. Stouth was charged with numerous narcotic and weapons offenses. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to have him detained pending trial.

Robert Alicea, 48, who lived in the home attached to the barber shop, was also arrested in connection with the investigation. He was charged with numerous narcotic offenses and released pending future court proceedings.

The search warrants were executed by officers with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, the FBI, the Mercer County Tactical Response Team, and the Hamilton, Princeton and Trenton police, under the command of the prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit.

The attached images of Ruben Stouth and Robert Alicea were provided by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office