Crime & Safety
Man Gets 12 Years For Dealing Heroin, Cocaine From Bay Head Home
Darryl Merritt of Neptune was arrested in Bay Head in 2017; he was convicted in of dealing heroin and cocaine in October.
TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Monmouth County man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after he was convicted of heroin and cocaine possession following a drug distribution bust at a home in Bay Head.
Darryl Merritt, 30, of Neptune, was sentenced to 12 years with six years of parole ineligibility by Superior Court Judge Michael T. Collins, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced.
Merritt was found guilty Oct. 13 of possession of heroin and of cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute in a school zone; possession of heroin and possession of cocaine; and obstructing the administration of law following a 10-day trial.
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The guilty verdict arose from an investigation by the prosecutor’s office Narcotics Strike Force into the distribution of heroin and cocaine out of a rented house near Bay Head Elementary School in late 2016 and early 2017. On March 20, 2017, detectives from the Ocean County Narcotics Strike Force, Ocean County Regional SWAT Team and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, executed a no-knock search warrant at the house.
SWAT officers found Merritt leaving the bathroom, where he had attempted to destroy 11 bricks of heroin by flushing them down the toilet. More than a half-ounce of heroin and a half-ounce of cocaine and paraphernalia associated with the distribution of a controlled dangerous substance were seized.
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Billhimer highlighted the work of Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Burke and Supervising Assistant Prosecutor William Porter in prosecuting the case and thanked the Narcotics Strike Force, the High-Tech Crime Squad, Ocean County Regional SWAT Team, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, Bay Head Police Department, Toms River Township Police Department, Brick Township Police Department and the Lakewood Township Police Department for their efforts in the case.
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