'Happy Days' Restaurant Owner In Ocean City Charged With Drugs, Weapons Possession

Photo: Inside of ”Happy Days” restaurant by Josh S.

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An Upper Township man and Ocean City restaurant owner has been charged with narcotics and weapons charges following a search of his home in the Marmora section of the Township on Thursday, Cape May County Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor announced.

Angelo Cuculino, 48, was charged with the following: possession of a schedule I controlled dangerous substance, a third degree crime;
possession with intent to distribute a schedule I controlled dangerous substance, a third degree crime; possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, a third degree crime; unlawful possession of a weapon, a second degree crime;
certain person not to possess a weapon, a second degree crime;
and possession of a weapon during the commission of a CDS offence, a second degree crime.

On Thursday, law enforcement officials recovered an amount of alpha-pyrrolidinopeniophenone, a Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substance, over 28 grams of marijuana and three firearms, along with $19,225.

Members of the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Task Force with assistance from members of the New Jersey State Police Woodbine Barracks Detective Bureau executed a search warrant at Cuclino’s home.

Cuculino was lodged in the Cape May County Correctional Facility in lieu of $75,000.00 full cash bail.

Cuculino is the owner of Happy Days, a restaurant on Asbury Avenue, according to The Press of Atlantic City. Happy Days closed after a fire caused over $100,000 worth of damage over the summer.

He also owned a restaurant that was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy and an aquarium that burned down in1999, both in Ocean City, according to the report.

Taylor advises that people convicted of a second degree crime are subject to a term of imprisonment of 5 to 10 years in New Jersey State Prison; people convicted of a fourth degree crime are subject to a term of imprisonment up to 18 months in New Jersey State Prison.