smoking crack in car with children during bust
Police: Borough man
smoking crack in car with children during bust
By brian donahue
Staff Writer
SPOTSWOOD — After a six-week investigation, police cornered a borough man they say was dealing heroin and arrested him during an alleged drug deal in a Summerhill Road parking lot.
While police attempted to arrest him, police said the suspect, John Knight, 47, of Wilson Avenue, tried to escape by driving his car directly at police officers, while his children, ages 1 and 3, were in the car with him. Police said he was also smoking crack inside the car when he was stopped.
Police said they followed Knight into the parking lot of the Cambridge Inn at 11:02 p.m. Friday, where he was to meet with Michael Trovato, 36, of Monroe, allegedly to sell him heroin. According to police, Knight had in his possession some 40 bags of heroin, syringes and other paraphernalia. He stopped his car while attempting to flee because he was surrounded by patrol vehicles, police said.
Later, during a search warrant police executed at Knight’s home, police Sgt. Brian Keenan — suspecting that potential heroin buyers may be calling — answered the phone and posed as a drug dealer. Keenan reportedly set up a meeting with the caller, William Rembert, 37, of Monroe, and arrested Rembert on Mundy Avenue after he allegedly ordered two bags of heroin. Rembert was charged with conspiracy to possess heroin and was later released.
Police charged Knight with endangering the welfare of a child, possession of heroin, possession with intent to distribute, possession within 1,000 feet of a school zone, and resisting arrest. He was held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick, in lieu of $150,000 bail.
Trovato was charged with conspiracy to purchase heroin and was lodged at the correctional center in lieu of $5,000 bail.
Police Chief Karl Martin said Knight’s children were turned over to a family member, and that the state Division of Youth and Family Services is now involved in the case. He said the children had been living with their mother, but were visiting Knight, a lifelong Spotswood resident who lived with his mother, at the time of the arrest. Knight, he said, has occasionally done handiwork as a profession, but police believe his primary source of income was through heroin sales.
"From our investigation, he was moving a lot of heroin around," Martin said.
He noted that he and the other police officers who apprehended Knight in the parking lot were surprised when they found the suspect allegedly dealing drugs and ingesting them with his children inside the vehicle.
"We were in disbelief that he’d do something like that," Martin said. "To do that with a 3-year-old and a 11/2-year-old, that’s ridiculous. That’s where the endangering the welfare of a child charge came from."
In an unrelated matter, police made two other heroin arrests earlier on Friday after an employee at ShopRite, Summerhill Road, was found to have overdosed on heroin in the bathroom of the store. Police said Michelle Kosoffsky, 41 of East Brunswick, was treated for the overdose, and was charged with heroin use and possession of a hypodermic needle.
Kosoffsky’s co-worker, 46-year-old John Wolfe, of Old Bridge, was accused of giving her the heroin that caused the overdose. He was charged with possession of heroin, being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance, distribution of heroin, possession in a school zone, and possession of a hypodermic needle.
Wolfe was being held at the county correctional center in lieu of $25,000 bail.
The police chief said Spotswood has had a continuing problem over the years with people using heroin.
"We’re really going to go after with a vengeance, anybody who distributes drugs, specifically heroin, in this town," Martin said.