The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Three men, including one from the township, were arrested Jan 12 on drug-related charges in separate incidents, according to authorities.
All the arrests were as the result of tips to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force. The arrests netted drugs with a combined street value of more than $5,000, according to police.
The Franklin resident, Takezo Dundon, 22, of Foxwood Drive was arrested in the latter of the two incidents.
Somerset County detectives received a tip that a man would be arriving at a house on Home Street on Jan. 12 and would be carrying a quantity of marijuana, according to a press release from the county prosecutor’s office.
At about 7:40 p.m., task force detectives saw a blue four-door vehicle pull up in front of a home, then saw a man, later identified as Dundon, exit the car and walk toward the home carrying a black backpack.
Detectives, accompanied by the Somerset County Sheriff K-9 “Apex,” approached the man and told him of the narcotics investigation, according to the release. Apex sniffed the backpack and signaled positive for the presence of a controlled and dangerous substance.
After obtaining a search warrant, detectives inspected the backpack and found one pound of marijuana, according to the release. The marijuana’s street value was set at $3,000, police said.
Dundon was charged with 3rd Degree Possession of a CDS With Intent to Distribute. He is lodged in the Somerset County Jail, Somerville.
In the other incident, police arrested Byron D. Martin, 29, of Plainfield and David Smith, 34, of Rahway, at a Cedar Grove Lane hotel.
The prosecutor’s task force received a tip that a man, who was later identified as Martin, would arrive at the hotel in a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee and would be carrying cocaine, according to the release.
The vehicle arrived at the hotel at about 7 p.m., and Martin was seen by detectives exiting the vehicle and entering the hotel’s lobby. As detectives approached him, Martin ran toward the rear of the hotel and exited through a side door, according to the release. He was allegedly seen throwing a plastic bag into a bush.
Martin was apprehended, and the bag was found to contain 17 grams of suspected cocaine, according to the release. An additional 5 grams of suspected cocaine was found in Martin’s right front pants pocket, according to the release.
Detectives approached the Jeep’s driver, Smith, and asked for his credentials, according to the release. As he was retrieving his driver’s license, detectives saw a Suboxone strip and arrested Smith. Suboxone is used to treat adults who are addicted to opioids.
Martin was charged with 2nd Degree Possession of CDS With Intent To Distribute and resisting arrest, a disorderly persons offense. Smith was charged with 3rd Degree Possession of CDS.
Martin was remanded to the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, and Smith was released on his own recognizance, according to the release.
