Five Charged with Conspiring to Sell Heroin, Prescription Drugs out of Newark Retail Store
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 07, 2013 |
NEWARK, NJ—Five Newark residents are charged as players in a conspiracy to sell heroin and prescription pills out of a retail store in the city, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Lamont Vaughn, 30; Jarez Barron, 25; Theresa Barron, 24; Latoyia Vaughn, 29; and Felicia Holt, 27, are each charged by complaint with two counts: conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and oxycodone. Federal agents arrested four of the defendants this morning at their homes. Latoyia Vaughn, Lamont Vaughn’s sister, remains at large.
Agents seized two firearms from Lamont Vaughn’s home, where they found him attempting to flush what appeared to be drugs down the toilet. Holt allegedly threw drugs out the window of her home as she fled from law enforcement, but was apprehended a short time later.
The arrested defendants are expected to make their initial appearances this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy Waldor in Newark federal court.
For at least a year beginning in August 2012, the defendants allegedy worked together to sell heroin and prescription pills out of a retail store in Newark. According to the complaints, they were observed and recorded by law enforcement discussing business hours and inventory and dealing bricks of heroin as well as Endocet—which they referred to as “bananas”—and other pills.
The conspiracy to distribute heroin count carries a maximum potential penalty of 40 years in prison, a minimum term of five years in prison, and a maximum fine of $5 million. The conspiracy to distribute oxycodone count carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
U.S. Attorney Fishman praised special agents and officers of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, as well as the New Jersey State Police Street Gangs North Unit with the investigation leading to the arrests.
The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Margaret Ann Mahoney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.