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29 people indicted, over 100 illegal weapons seized since January

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The State Police and the state Division of Criminal Justice are attempting to aggressively target gun violence in New Jersey through what Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa Thursday described as strategic investigations focused on seizing existing weapons in violent areas, disrupting the supply-chain of weapons trafficking into those areas, and aggressively prosecuting criminals involved in the illegal sale and possession of weapons.

In the past three weeks, the Criminal Justice Division has obtained 21 state grand jury indictments charging 29 people with the unlawful possession or sale of 52 guns, authorities said. The indictments stem in all but one instance from cases involving the State Police.

The indictments list offenses ranging from unlawful possession of handguns and assault weapons to leading a weapons trafficking network, and also include charges of unlawful transportation of weapons into the state, unlawful possession of defaced weapons, unlawful possession of weapons during commission of narcotics offenses, unlawful possession of body armor piercing bullets, and unlawful possession of weapons by convicted felons. Most of the accused are subject to the strict penalties applicable to Graves Act gun convictions, requiring mandatory periods of parole ineligibility of up to five years.

Chiesa said the indictments represent the first wave of prosecutions under the initiative. In order to stem the tide of gun violence and assist local police who, in some cases, are facing force reductions, the State Police, working in coordination with the Criminal Justice Division, has been focusing its investigatory efforts on guns, using narcotics investigations as a point of entry to identify and arrest those who sell and possess firearms in areas identified as violent crime hot spots.

The efforts are focused in the greater Newark, Paterson, Jersey City, Trenton, Camden and Atlantic City areas but arrests and seizures of weapons have been made in communities throughout the state, authorities said.

“We’re taking direct aim at those responsible for the proliferation of guns and gun violence in our urban communities throughout New Jersey, including gang members and convicted felons,” Chiesa said at a press conference at the State Police Ballistics Laboratory in Hamilton. “By making weapons the focus of our investigations and prosecuting offenders under New Jersey’s tough gun laws, we’re taking numerous weapons and violent criminals off the street. Each gun we seize potentially represents a life saved. In addition, by testing the guns and entering them into the national ballistics database, we will solve additional crimes.”

The announcement of the indictments and seizures of weapons over the past four months comes as the State Police and Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes are facing heavy criticism in the aftermath of a Newark Star-Ledger expose detailing how troopers in March and in 2010 led at least two caravans of sports car along the Garden State Parkway at speeds that reached over 100 miles-per-hour and endangered motorists. Chiesa and Fuentes say they are conducting an investigation and an Assembly committee wants to question the superintendent about the incidents.

The State Police Intelligence Section has more than doubled the number of detectives assigned specifically to weapons trafficking, authorities said. Since January, the Weapons Trafficking Bureau, which includes North and South units, has teamed with the Street Gang North and South Units to seize 101 guns and arrest 42 people for gun offenses. In that time, the Intelligence Section has seized as many guns as it seized in all of 2010 (101), and nearly as many as in 2011 (110). Nearly half of the gun offenders are convicted felons and more than a dozen are known gang members. Detectives seized 22 “community guns,” hidden where various criminals could access them, and many guns that were stolen or had defaced serial numbers.