Passaic County drug bust nets five arrests, $25,000 worth of heroin
By Jonathan Greene
Published: November 13, 2017
Five men from Paterson and the Bronx were arrested on Monday and $25,000 worth of heroin was seized in a five-month long investigation into a regional heroin distribution operation that extended from Passaic County to the Bronx in New York, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.
Police arrested four Paterson residents — Faustino E. Acosta-Jaquez, 33; James R. Brown, 48; Tirrell Singletary, 27; Jamel Palmer, 28 – and a Bronx man — Leopoldo Abreu Evangelista, 60.
Acosta-Jaquez is charged with five drug offenses including maintaining a heroin production facility, possession, distribution, and distribution near a school.
Singletary and Brown were charged with three and four drug offenses for possession and distribution, authorities said.
Palmer and Evangelista were charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin.
Authorities seized .75-pound of heroin worth $25,000 on the street and confiscated $9,771 in suspected drug proceeds.
Police confiscated two vehicles allegedly used by the alleged drug dealers.
Authorities began their investigation in June after receiving information Acosta-Jaquez was distributing large amounts of heroin in Passaic County. The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) opened an investigation into Acosta-Jaquez’s activities.
Police from Wayne, Clifton, Ringwood, Totowa, Bloomingdale, Elmwood Park, West Milford, North Haledon, Woodland Park, Passaic, and the Manhattan Special Narcotics Prosecutor aided in the investigation, authorities said.