By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — A month-long drug investigation resulted in the seizure Thursday of $70,000 in crack and powder cocaine and the arrest of a convicted felon who was dealing drugs out of a township hotel, authorities said.
Law enforcement officials led by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigations Unit said they took Antonio Thompson, 37, into custody at the conclusion of the investigation, which revealed Mr. Thompson was distributing drugs out of the Extended Stay America Hotel on Route 1 north in West Windsor.
Mr. Thompson was arrested in the hotel lobby around noon Thursday, police said.
Mr. Thompson had been living at the hotel for more than a year and following his apprehension law enforcement officials searching his room said they found 274 grams of crack cocaine, 426 grams of powder cocaine, a digital scale, and $5,292 in cash.
Also seized was Mr. Thompson’s vehicle, a 2003 Lincoln Navigator.
Mr. Thompson’s long-term drug distribution operation out of the West Windsor hotel was unusual for what law enforcement officials usually see in drug operations conducted out of hotel facilities, Capt. Bill Straniero of the Prosecutor’s Office said.
”People usually set up for a day or two, do what they gotta do, and meet someone and do a deal,” said Capt. Straniero. “But by the time law enforcement usually gets there, they are usually gone.”
Police also said that dealers sometimes use hotels as receiving points for shipments of drugs by staying at the establishment for a few days around the package’s expected delivery time.
But in one way the use of the Extended Stay America Hotel by Mr. Thompson did make sense, Capt. Straniero said.
That is because workers on long-term business assignments in the area, who tend to stay for a few months, usually frequent this particular hotel, instead of normal hotel guests with short-term hotel stays of a few days or a week.
West Windsor hotels usually don’t see this kind of crime, according to West Windsor police officials, who said they couldn’t remember the last time an incident like Thursday’s took place.
”For us it’s rare, because we don’t have any fleabag motels,” said Lt. Carl Walsh.
Mr. Thompson, who had served two years in state prison following a 1995 drug conviction, has been charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with the intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia, authorities said.
He is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $250,000 bail.
The West Windsor Police Department, Hamilton Township Police Department, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice also took part in the investigation.

