Manalapan Warehouse Was Hub Of Marijuana Edibles Ring, Cops Say

MANALAPAN, NJ — A warehouse in Manalapan was converted into a black market candy factory, where thousands of pieces of Nerds and Sour Patch candies were unwrapped and secretly infused with THC to be sold on the black market, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni Tuesday.

In total, 24 men and women were arrested in connection with the marijuana edibles ring, one of them from Manalapan. Residents from Colts Neck, Freehold and Howell were also arrested. The prosecutor's office dubbed the takedown "Operation on the Ropes."

The drug ring used a warehouse on Park Avenue in Manalapan and a hangar at Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall as their production and storage facilities, said Gramiccioni.

The drug dealers would buy regular candy wholesale, unwrap it, spray it with THC concentrate and then repackage it to be re-sold across New Jersey as marijuana edibles, say police. THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, the substance that creates most of marijuana's "high."

Detectives raided the Park Avenue warehouse and seized 21,000 pieces of candy that were stored there, all laced with THC.

The county prosecutor's office declined to release the exact address of the Park Avenue warehouse. Park Avenue is a small warehouse area right off Rt. 33.

“The network operators used regular candy, buying hundreds of boxes of product from wholesalers before transporting it to a processing facility (in Manalapan) where they would unwrap the individual pieces of candy, lay it out on trays and then spray (it) with a concentrated formula of THC distillate," explained Gramiccioni. "Once the THC dried on the candy, it was repackaged as an illegal marijuana edibles product for distribution across New Jersey."

The THC was illegally trafficked into New Jersey from a supplier in California. Recreational marijuana is legal in California.

In the warehouse and airport raid, police also seized more than 1,100 lbs. of suspected marijuana, and more than 6,000 flavored THC vape cartridges. It all added up to an estimated street value of $1.9 million, said the county prosecutor.

Inside the warehouse, detectives found 1,200 THC-infused Sour Patch Watermelon candy packages labeled “Stoner Patch” edibles; 6,250 “Baked Burgerz” edibles and 3,111 TCH-infused “Nerd Ropes,” individually repackaged in red, pink, yellow and blue wrappers. Also seized were 1,151 Tic Tac-type containers without labels; numerous boxes and trays of Nerd Ropes in various stages of the infusion process and 6,542 THC vape cartridges in a variety of 16 different flavors.

“The packaging on this THC laced ‘candy’ is almost indistinguishable from regular drug store candy. Your kids may be getting high right before your eyes, if you are not paying close attention,” said Monmouth County Chief of Detectives John McCabe. "This illegal operation makes juveniles and anyone who consumes these products susceptible to random levels of drug toxicity."

“The operation used their own wrappers and labels to repackage the drug-infused candy. There were no sanitary measures taken, no safety apparatus, and there were certainly were no standards in place to ensure the product was not contaminated,” said Middletown Township Police Chief Craig Weber, President of the Monmouth County Chiefs Association. "Consumers had no way of knowing exactly what they were ingesting."

Also seized was $1.4 million in cash, and 21 high-end exotic vehicles, including cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz, were also seized as part of the criminal investigation.

Here is who was charged in connection with the ring (One California man remains at-large and is considered a fugitive):

Dylon J. Addvensky, 27, of Freehold Borough, first degree Leader of a Narcotics Trafficking Network, second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Knowingly Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 50 Grams.

Eric L. Karlewicz, a/k/a Anthony Mazza 40, of Colts Neck, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 grams.

Nicco C. Romanowski, 27, of Freehold Township, second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 grams.

Anthony Dalessandro, 30, of Los Angeles, California, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish with Intent to Distribute, first degree Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 50 Grams. D’Alessandro remains at-large and is considered a fugitive from justice.

Ariel Baez, 45, of Lodi, New Jersey, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 grams.

Mathew R. Caracappa, 24, of Freehold Township, second degree Conspiracy, first degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Knowingly Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana and/or Hashish, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 50 Grams.

Lawrence A. Cella, 28, of Jackson Township, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, first degree Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana and hashish, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish.

Richard C. Chamas, 43, of Jackson Township, is charged with a disorderly persons offense of Obstruction of the lawful arrest of Paul G. Hobbs, who is listed below.

Lee D’Avanzo, 52, of Staten Island, New York, is charged with fourth degree Conspiracy to Possess Marijuana, fourth degree Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 grams. (Lee is the husband of "Mob Wives" star Drita D'Avanzo. Just last month, the "Mob Wives" star and her husband were busted on drug and gun charges, police said.)

Nicholas A. D’Ambrosio, 28, of Manalapan, third degree Possession of Cocaine and a disorderly persons offenses of Possession of Marijuana Under 50 grams.

Alfonse D’Ambrosio, 26, of Howell Township, is charged with third degree possession of Anabolic Steroids, fourth degree Resisting Arrest, fourth degree Possession of Examestane without a Prescription,

Angelynn J. Fecso, of Colts Neck, second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana in Excess of 25 pounds, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 grams.

Matthew V. Filosa, 28, of Freehold Borough, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana and/or Hashish fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 50 grams.

Paul G. Hobbs, 27, of Jackson Township, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana and/or Hashish fourth degree Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 grams.

Ryan D. Hult, 39, of Riverdale in Morris County, New Jersey, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 50 grams.

Jason M. Lambros, 21, of Point Pleasant Beach, is charged with disorderly persons offenses of Possession of Marijuana Under 50 grams and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Joseph A. Mari, 28, of Voorhees Township in Camden County, New Jersey, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, second degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and Hashish.

Gianna P. Mazzone, 23, of Egg Harbor Township, is charged with third degree Possession of Cocaine and a disorderly persons offenses of Possession of Marijuana under 50 grams.

John T. Page, 25, of the Mickleton section of Greenwich Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, first degree Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana and hashish, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and Hashish.

Hannah R. Olstein, 25, Freehold Township, is charged with fourth degree Possession of Marijuana Under 50 grams and a disorderly persons offense of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

Daniel J. Riley, 25, of Brick Township, second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 25 pounds, first degree Maintaining and Operating a Facility for the Production of Marijuana, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and/or Hashish in Excess of 50 grams.

Kevin M. Shields, 31 of Jackson Township, is charged with second degree Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, first degree Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana and Hashish, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and Hashish.

Alexa L. Stimpfel, 27, of Freehold Borough, is charged with fourth degree Possession of Marijuana Under 50 grams.

Matthew C. Tracy, 27, of Jackson Township, is charged with fourth degree Conspiracy to Possess Marijuana and Hashish, and fourth degree Possession of Marijuana and Hashish.

There is an ongoing investigation into the financial activities of the criminal enterprise, said the county prosecutor. Anyone with information about the activities of any of the defendants listed above or any of the following companies Empire Pain Center, Empire Power and Gas Holdings, Global Empire International Holdings, Supreme Lead Generations, Platinum Communication Services, Platinum Funding Associates, Jenza Properties, LLC, Dynasty Property Holdings are urged to contact Captain Maria Reverendo of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, at 1-800-533-7443.

Anyone who feels the need to remain anonymous but has information about a crime can contact Monmouth County Crime Stoppers confidential telephone tip-line by calling 1-800-671-4400 can text "MONMOUTH” plus their tip to 274637; or, they can email a tip via the website at www.monmouthcountycrimestoppers.com.