Convicted dealer busted in Greenville

Wednesday, December 17, 2008
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

In the culmination of a six-week investigation, Jersey City police arrested a Greenville drug dealer Monday and seized more than $4,500 of drugs packaged for street sale, officials said.

Wayne Smith, 32, of Wegman Parkway, was charged with 15 weapons and narcotics offenses relating to possession of cocaine, heroin and marijuana with the intent to distribute near a school; possession of a defaced weapon and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, officials said.

Jersey City narcotics officers arrested Smith outside his home Monday afternoon, after a six-week probe led by Sgt. Steve Trowbridge and Police Officer Anthony Goodman, which focused on Smith and other street-level dealers in the Greenville area, officials said.

"Here you have an example of how stick-to-itiveness paid off," said police Chief Tom Comey.

Police searched Smith's home and found a loaded .380 semi automatic handgun with a defaced serial number and drugs with a street value of $4,675, including 177 vials of cocaine, 132 bags of marijuana, 60 bags of heroin and another 47 grams of cocaine, said Inspector Kenneth Teschlog, narcotics division commander.

Smith was released in February 2007 after spending two years in state prison for a conviction for dealing illegal narcotics, according to the state Department of Corrections Web site.