Member Of Camden, New Jersey, Drug Trafficking Organization Admits Drug Distribution

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Camden man today admitted selling crack cocaine, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Nafeez Griffin, a/k/a “Feez,” 31, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Griffin admitted that on Nov. 30, 2015, he sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer on the 1100 block of Lansdowne Avenue, which was then under the control of a drug distribution organization of which he was a member. Griffin also admitted that other members of the organization supplied drugs to him, and that he made sales of crack cocaine on other occasions. Griffin and others were originally charged by complaint on Sept. 9, 2016, following a long-term investigation by the FBI’s South Jersey Violent Offender and Gang Task Force. Law enforcement officers seized drugs and recovered two handguns that were kept by members of the conspiracy in connection with the organization’s drug trafficking activities. Investigators also intercepted communications pursuant to court-authorized wiretaps on cellular telephones used by several members of the conspiracy.

The count to which Griffin pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6, 2017.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Violent Offender and Gang Task Force, South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster; the Camden County Police Department, under the direction of Chief J. Scott Thomson; the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo; and the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Rick Fuentes, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

He also thanked the Camden County Sheriff’s Department, the Cherry Hill Police Department, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Vidoni of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Defense counsel: Justin T. Loughry Esq., Camden