Bergen County Man Distributed Cocaine From Fort Lee Home, Police Say

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Weeks after a Bergen County man was caught at a New York storage unit with $10 million worth of cocaine, New Jersey State Police have announced the arrest of a second man in the scheme.

Charles Gant, 62, of Paramus has been charged with multiple drug and weapons offenses, state police announced.

The arrest was in connection with the case of Nelson Salcedo, 35, of Englewood, who was caught in August with multiple boxes of cocaine for distribution, officials have said.

State police said last week that Gant had been supplied with drugs by Salcedo.

Officials said that back in April, detectives identified Gant as a distributor of cocaine and firearms, operating from a home in Fort Lee.

From April through July, with assistance from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey police identified other homes associated with the drug activity.

They also identified vehicles and co‑conspirators involved in distributing drugs and weapons around New York and New Jersey.

New Jersey State Police arrested Gant in Fort Lee on Aug. 12 after seeing him involved in a suspected drug transaction in New York, officials said.

Police obtained search warrants for Gant’s homes and vehicles and recovered 15 kilograms of cocaine, a gun, and approximately $180,000 in cash, police said.

Gant was arrested without incident, police said.

Then, two weeks later, on Aug. 26, the New Jersey Drug Enforcement Agency, New York police, and other agencies conducted surveillance on Salcedo. They saw him load suspected drugs into his vehicle at a storage facility in Long Island City.

There, they found 266 kilograms of cocaine inside the vehicle, and Salcedo was arrested. (See prior reporting here.)

Gant was charged with manufacturing and distribution of drugs, possession of drugs, maintaining a drug facility, money laundering, unlawful possession of a weapon, and certain persons not to have weapons.

READ MORE: Bergen County Man Caught With $10M In Cocaine