These were small prison terms why couldn't they have been lenghtened ?

Jersey City police say two felons with long records are picked up at housing complex carrying a shotgun in a trash can

Published: Thursday, September 15, 2011, 10:05 AM
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

Two Jersey City felons with extensive records were arrested after police doing surveillance at the Arlington Gardens housing complex found them with a shotgun Tuesday, officials said yesterday.

Leroy Woodson, 29, aka Maurice Wright, of Arlington Avenue, and Preston Rose, 41, of Jewett Avenue, were arrested at 1:43 p.m. on Claremont Avenue and charged with weapons offenses that include possession of a firearm by a felon, reports said.

Police were watching as Rose placed a garbage can on Woodson's porch and then waited on the sidewalk as Woodson came out of the house, wrapped what appeared to be a rifle or shotgun in a bed sheet, and placed it in the can, reports said.

Rose and Woodson walked away with the trash can and police converging on them found a 16-gauge shotgun inside, reports said. Reports quoted Woodson as saying: "That ain't mine. I was just holding it."

Rose was in prison from March 13, 2003 to July 3, 2007 and Oct. 17, 2007 to June 26, 2008 for two counts of possession of a weapon by a felon and three counts of drug possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, corrections records say.

Woodson served five prison terms from Sept. 7, 2001 to March 25, 2011 for drug distribution, a weapons offense, bail jumping and six counts of robbery, corrections records say.