Drug dealing complaints lead to 2 arrests in Jersey City

by Michaelangelo Conte
Wednesday April 08, 2009, 12:01 AM

Complaints of drug dealing at a Jersey City Heights corner led to surveillance by narcotic cops and the arrest of 19- and 22-year-old men on Monday night, officials said.

Rafael Rodriguez, of Paterson Street near Pierce Avenue, was arrested at 8:40 p.m. and charged with multiple drug counts including distribution of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, reports said. Jean Maignan, 19, of 48th Street in Union City, was also arrested on the charge of drug possession, reports said.

Officers staking out Rodriguez's home saw Maignan pacing at the corner and watched as Rodriguez gave him a bag of suspected marijuana in exchange for money, reports said.
Perimeter units that caught up with Maignan at Charles Street and Summit Avenue arrested him after finding he had a bag containing suspected marijuana, reports said.

Rodriguez got into a car and police followed it to Columbia Avenue at Bleecker Street and walked up when it double-parked, reports said.

Rodriguez told police there was a bag of marijuana in the console and he was arrested, reports said.

A search of Rodriguez's apartment turned up a digital scale, a marijuana grinder, pipes for smoking pot, various sized plastic bags and $7,237, reports said.