OCEAN COUNTY – A three-month investigation identified three locations in Lakewood and one in Barnegat that were used to deal heroin, police said.
These four locations, which were not described in a police press release, were visited by officers with no-knock warrants on Aug. 6. They found approximately 1,500 individual dosage units of heroin, various quantities of marijuana, $1,200 in cash, and three handguns.
The officers arrested Tony Olden, 33, of Lakewood, and charged him with one Count of Maintaining a Controlled Dangerous Substance Production/Manufacturing Facility; one Count of Possession of Over One-Half Ounce of Heroin with Intent to Distribute; one Count of Possession of Heroin with Intent to Distribute within 500 feet of a Public Park; Possession of Heroin; two counts of Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose; two counts of Possession of a Handgun While Committing a Controlled Dangerous Substance Offense; two counts of being a Certain Person Not to Possess a Weapon; two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon; one Count of Possession of a Defaced Firearm; and Possession of Prohibited Ammunition. Olden is lodged in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.
They also arrested Shawn Craighead, 32, of Lakewood. He was charged with one Count of being a Certain Person Not to Possess a Weapon; one Count of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon; and one Count of Possession of Marijuana. Craighead is also lodged in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing.
The two defendants are assumed innocent until proven guilty.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and Lakewood Township Police Chief Gregory Meyer stated this was the culmination of a three-month, multi-agency investigation into the distribution of heroin in the Ocean County area. Involved were a number of agencies, including the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Regional SWAT Team, and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Asset Forfeiture Unit, Officers and Detectives from the Lakewood Township Police Department, the Toms River Township Police Department, the Barnegat Township Police Department, the Stafford Township Police Department, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, and the Monmouth/Ocean County DEA HIDTA Group.
