By Davy James, Staff Writer
Three South Brunswick residents were arrested on possession charges during a large-scale joint investigation into the distribution of cocaine and heroin in Somerset, Middlesex and Union counties.
Operation Crossroads Crackdown was a six-month investigation involving New Jersey State Police; police from Somerset, Bound Brook, Franklin Township, Bridgewater, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Plainfield, Newark and Somerville; the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department and Manville Police Department K-9 units; and the Middlesex County and Union County prosecutor’s offices.
The operation led to the arrests of 57 individuals.
The street value of the heroin seized in the investigation was approximately $13,000 while the estimated street value of the cocaine seized was $7,000.
Arrested from South Brunswick during the investigation were Mitchell Mast, 46, of Regal Court in Monmouth Junction, Michael Shannon, 51, of Cherry Street in South Brunswick, and Shirley Slotwell, 54, of South Ridge Road in Monmouth Junction.
All three township residents were charged with attempt to possess a controlled dangerous substance and conspiracy to possess a controlled dangerous substance, both third-degree crimes.
According to a statement from the Somerset County prosecutor’s office, the original target of the investigation was Harry Jackson Sr., 47, of Bound Brook, who allegedly served as the Somerset County connection for two separate distribution operations a Plainfield-based heroin distribution ring allegedly run by Rickey Currie, 47, of Plainfield, and a Franklin-based cocaine ring allegedly run by Angel Guadalupe, 31, of Somerset.

