K9 unit helps seize heroin, weapons
By: Cara Latham
Three officers from the Plumsted Police Department and their drug-sniffing police dog assisted in raiding a heroin distribution ring last week in Trenton that turned up 11 arrests and the seizure of about $36,280 of heroin.
At 5 a.m. Aug. 23, the Trenton Police Department launched "Operation Old City" so-named because it took place in the Old City neighborhood in downtown Trenton where officers from 12 agencies targeted suspected drug haunts, Trenton police said.
Acting on 18 search warrants for houses on Wood, North Montgomery, Commerce, North Stockton, Academy and East State streets and on Martin Luther King Boulevard, officers seized five guns, $13,965 in cash and 1,814 "decks" of heroin valued at $20 each, police said.
In February, undercover officers of the Trenton Police Department’s Vice Enforcement Unit made dozens of drug purchases in the course of an investigation, where they learned that drug dealers worked regular shifts and frequently moved themselves, drugs, cash and weapons from house to house to escape detection, police said.
The heroin trade was "high-volume and tightly organized," they said.
Plumsted, Ewing and Hamilton police departments, the Special Investigations Unit of the Mercer County prosecutor’s office, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, the state police, the state Division of Criminal Justice, FBI, U.S. Marshal Service, ATF and Secret Service participated in the raid.
The Plumsted officers became involved in the raid because Trenton police needed help from the K9 unit, according to Lt. George Titko of the Plumsted Police Department.
Lt. Titko said this is not the first time Plumsted officers have assisted officers in other municipalities.
"If they call and ask for assistance and if we can spare the guys, sure we’ll go," he said.
Lt. Daniel Pagnotta, commander of the Trenton Police Department’s Special Operations Bureau said that he called Plumsted K9 Officer Sgt. Robert Pintye, who had trained with Trenton police prior to the raid. Sgt. Pintye brought two other officers and assisted in the operation.
"It was actually a K9 unit and two officers," Lt. Pagnotta said. "They came to Trenton to help us when we needed the dogs. We try to break down the number of searches the dogs actually do," so help from Plumsted’s K9 unit was needed, he said.
The heroin raid was the biggest operations to take place in Trenton in a long time.
"There’s nobody around that can remember anything bigger than this," Lt. Pagnotta said.
He added that he’s noticed a recent increase in cooperation between police departments, as Trenton police have reached out to other municipalities in the area.
"We try to maintain partnerships with all different kinds of law enforcement agencies in the area," he said. "The more people from different agencies that get involved, the more in tune everyone’s going to be."
He later added, "The cooperation between law enforcement is unprecedented in the recent past."
During the raid, the following Trenton residents were apprehended: Tiesha Mottley, 25, of Edgewood Avenue, was charged with possession of controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and related charges. Adrianne Jeaneall Spady, 27, of Stockton Street, was charged with possession of CDS. Jason L. Reeves, 26, of North Warren Street, was charged with receiving stolen property, possession of armor-piercing ammunition and unlawful possession of a handgun. Nattlie Maryanna Sykes, 23, of Wood Street, was charged with possession of a defaced firearm, possession of armor-piercing ammunition, possession of a large capacity magazine and unlawful possession of a handgun. Phillip Jumar Presha, 28, of Academy Street, was charged with possession of CDS with intent to distribute and related charges. Star Janel Fletcher, 19, of Edgewood Avenue, was charged with possession of armor-piercing ammunition, possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of a handgun. A female minor, 16, of Passaic Street, was charged with possession of CDS with intent to distribute and related charges.
Anthony Lamont Littlejohn, 22, of Academy Street, was arrested on three unanswered warrants, and Ellen Delores Johenkins, 39, of East State Street, was arrested on two unanswered warrants. Sarah Sanders, 54, of Cumberland Avenue, and Deanne Avery, 30, of Poplar Street, were both arrested on an unanswered warrant.