Stay Granted On Release Of Man With Loaded AK-47, 8kg Of Cocaine

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Ocean County authorities are fighting to keep a man in jail who they say had 8 kilos of cocaine and a loaded AK-47 in his possession when they arrested him in February, after an Ocean County judge ruled he should be released to await trial.

On Friday morning they got their wish, at least temporarily: a state appellate court has granted a stay until Tuesday in a ruling by Ocean County Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels that would release Rasheed Sanders under bail reform rules.

Sanders, 37, of East Orange was arrested Feb. 17 in Lakewood after authorities executing a search warrant found 8.5 kilograms of cocaine and the loaded AK-47 in a Lawrence Street apartment.

Ocean County narcotics investigators, who executed the warrant, also found another magazine of bullets for the rifle, six cellphones and drug paraphernalia, Della Fave said. He is facing multiple charges, Della Fave said.

>> READ MORE: Appellate Court Grants Stay In Sanders' Release

On Tuesday at Sanders' detention hearing, Daniels decided to release Sanders to await trial. Prosecutors objected and asked that Sanders be held while they file an appeal, and Daniels granted a stay until Thursday, Della Fave said. On Thursday afternoon in court, "we made it very clear our concerns and the danger he poses to the community," he said.

According to a report on the proceedings by NJ.com, Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor John Tassini told Daniels, "An AK 47 is a killing machine. There is no reason to have one other than to cause harm."

Prosecutors said the volume of the cocaine — 8.5 kilograms is worth between $230,000 and $320,000 according to narcoticnews.com, a website that tracks street prices of illegal drugs — is an indicator that Sanders is "part of a multi-state drug network." Those ties would make it very easy for Sanders to disappear, Della Fave said.

This is not the first time Daniels has released someone to await trial who Ocean County prosecutors believed posed a significant danger.

In January 2017, not long after the new bail reform rules took effect, Daniels released Christopher Wilson of Little Egg Harbor to await trial in an attempted luring case. Wilson, who was convicted as a juvenile of a child sexual assault, was accused of trying to lure a 12-year-old girl for a sexual encounter with the promise of a gaming console.

Despite his prior conviction, Wilson was released to await trial, as Daniels based his decision on the risk assessment program of the bail reform system. That assessment does not pick up juvenile offenses.

Wilson was later ordered to jail after a state appeals court ruled that his prior conviction on a similar charge, and two probation violations should have been considered, along with his Tier 3 classification under Megan's Law, but not before an outcry that included a public warning by the Little Egg Harbor police chief about the danger Wilson posed to the community.

More recently, Daniels released Richard A. Gato, a retired police officer, to await trial in the shooting of a Toms River man on Gato's doorstep after the man knocked on the wrong door. That release also was over the objections of prosecutors, who presented video evidence that they said clearly shows the events of the shooting.

Daniels gave a 4 p.m. deadline on Friday for prosecutors to get a ruling from the appeals court.

Rasheed Sanders via Ocean County Corrections website