Spring Lake Heights Councilman Denies Drug Needle Was His: Report

SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS, NJ — A Spring Lake Heights councilman who was caught on police video saying "I forgot about the weed" says a hypdermic syringe found in his SUV during the arrest did not belong to him.

Spring Lake Heights Councilman Robert T. Merriken Sr., 69, who was arrested in April, is not an intravenous drug user, his attorney, Charles Shaw, told NJ.com.

Merriken and his passenger, Cherice M. Hernandez, 39, of Lake Como, were arrested April 4 in Neptune City after police found the needle, a small rubber band, cotton swabs with blood and a needle cap, according to the Asbury Park Press, which posted the police video obtained through a public records request last week. The search came following a motor vehicle stop after police said he ran a stop sign and failed to use a turn signal, NJ.com reported.

Hernandez's mother told NJ.com that her daughter does not use intravenous drugs either, according to the report.

On the police video, the two can be overheard discussing both the marijuana and the needle, with both denying it is theirs.

Merriken, who has a history of prostitution arrests, including charges that he paid a woman $25 for sex in a Jewish cemetery according to the Asbury Park Press, has been urged to resign by the other four members of the Borough Council but so far has refused to do so, according to the reports.

The next Spring Lake Heights Borough Council meeting is Monday (today) at 8 p.m.

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