Major Heroin Ring Busted In Lower Bucks County: DA

BRISTOL TOWNSHIP, PA — A major heroin ring operating in Lower Bucks County has been busted, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Cornelius Bell, 28, and several associates are charged with working out of Trenton, N.J., and selling 500-1,000 bags of heroin a day, mostly in Lower Bucks, the Bucks County District Attorney's office announced.

A lengthy investigation was conducted by agencies including detectives in Falls Township, Bristol Township, Middletown Township and Bristol Borough, as well as the Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force, the DA's office said.

Detectives began investigating Bell in March, the DA's office said. They made multiple undercover heroin purchases totaling four "bricks," with each brick containing about 50 bags of heroin. The bricks were labeled "Tom Brady," the DA's office said.

Bell was arrested in Falls Township earlier this month at the beginning of a day-long, multi-agency operation that also saw the arrest of Jalmed P. Marks, 27, of Trenton, who prosecutors say was Bell's partner.

Mercer County's Narcotics Task Force executed search warrants at several residences connected with the investigation, seizing more than 2,500 bags of heroin, prosecutors said.

"From its inception in 2017, our Drug Strike Force has been committed to taking down major drug organizations in Bucks County through collaborations with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies," said District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub. "This bust is but one great example of our concentrated, multi-agency approach to getting this poison off the streets."

Marks, Joshua White, 27, and Aaron Gyampo, 26, all of Trenton, worked with Bell, investigators say. They say they used a cellphone number that they changed periodically and that at least one of the men was at nearly every drug deal arranged using the numbers.

White and Gyampo remain at large. Marks is in custody on charges in New Jersey. Bell is being held at Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10 percent of a $250,000 bail.

Also arrested was Dustin Biondino, 33, of Falls Township. Biondo also is charged in a September incident in which he's accused of running from police after what appeared to be a drug deal in the parking lot of Aspen Falls Apartments.

Police say Biondino ran into an apartment and barricaded himself inside a bathroom, where he tried to flush items, including drug paraphernalia, down the drain.

The DA's office say seven buyers also were arrested on the day of the operation.

Photos of Bell, Marks and Biondino (l-r) courtesy Bucks County District Attorney's office