Bergen-Lafayette crime targeted - 50 arrests made

Friday, June 26, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City police have wrapped up Phase II of the Violent Enterprise Source Targeting effort in Bergen-Lafayette that's resulted in 50 arrests, drug seizures and closure of a "marijuana farm" housed in basement, officials said.

Besides finding 190 pot plants in the basement of a two-family home on Neptune Avenue, police also found 66 bags of already harvested marijuana, a loaded .40-caliber handgun, and equipment used to grow the plants, Jersey City spokesman Stan Eason said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The find led to multiple charges against Sean Alvarez, 27, and Samantha Santana, 25, both of that residence, Eason said. The couple's young child was turned over to relatives and their two pit bulls were given to a neighbor, Eason said.

Phase II of V.E.S.T. ran from June 1 to June 20 and climaxed on June 19 with execution of five search warrants, officials said. Thirty one of the arrests were made at the Booker T. Washington and Montgomery Gardens public housing complexes.

"It's our intention to keep applying the pressure to drug dealers and these violent offenders until we put them out of business," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said.

"This is our second operation with several levels of law enforcement and the successful results are indicative of the power of sharing resources and information."

V.E.S.T. is described as a multi-agency collaborative effort to disrupt and dismantle violent criminal organizations.

Highlights of the crackdown include the June 1 arrest of Nakia Adams on Bidwell Avenue on charges he had a .357 Magnum, 1,800 bags of heroin and 41 grams of heroin, Eason said.

On June 7, John C. Perry, 28, of Montgomery Street, was arrested after shots were fired in the neighborhood and he was charged with possession of a .25-caliber handgun and linked to a street mugging, Eason said.

And on June 16, a motor vehicle stop on Bramhall Avenue led to the arrest of Kenneth Williams, 18, of Philadelphia, Pa., who was in possession of .22 caliber handgun, Eason said. A search of a nearby home led to the arrests of Sharif Antwan Scott, 20, Tynetta Scott, 39, and a 16-year-old boy after police found a sawed-off shotgun, Eason said.

In April, Phase I of V.E.S.T. was conducted in Greenville and resulted in 50 other arrests of violent offenders and people suspected of being in the illegal drug trade, officials said.