Ruling for a Mother Whose Infant Tested Positive for Cocaine, It Said the Evidence Was Insufficient. Child protection workers did not prove that a Cape May County mother abused her infant even though the child tested positive for cocaine at birth, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision Wednesday. The decision overturned two lower-court decisions in the 2007 case. Drug tests alone do not substantiate abuse and protection workers must show actual or imminent harm, the justices wrote. [continues 485 words]
A Note From the State to Participants Inadvertently Showed E-Mail Addresses and Even Some Full Names. Lisa Segal prays that those who inadvertently obtained the names of New Jerseyans approved by the state to buy medical marijuana will maintain the privacy she says those seriously ill patients deserve. The state Department of Health apologized Wednesday for an e-mail sent to more than 400 marijuana program participants in which the recipients' e-mail addresses were plainly visible. Some addresses incorporated the patients' full names. [continues 413 words]
A civilian employee of the Philadelphia Police Department has resigned but remains under investigation for allegedly skimming drugs from evidence sent to the department's lab, authorities said. Capt. Benjamin Naish, a police spokesman, confirmed that an Internal Affairs investigation is under way, and that authorities have been consulting with the District Attorney's Office. Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, would not comment on the case. The employee's name was not released. The former employee, a chemist who tested drugs, came under investigation earlier this month when authorities became aware of possible improprieties, police said. An audit is being conducted to determine how many criminal drug cases have been affected. [end]
Residents said Point Breeze's violence had dropped since a pilot program began Nov. 30. Officials remained cautious. Sam Porter appreciates the relative tranquillity in his section of South Philadelphia in recent weeks, as he walks block after block and eyes troubled corners. He has always been quick to call police about drug dealers, corner crowds, or cars circling suspiciously. He gets a faster response these days. On Nov. 30, Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson ordered scores of police into Porter's area as part of a citywide effort, starting in parts of South Philadelphia, to stem violent crime. [continues 691 words]
A Girl Is Suspected Of Handing Out The Drug At A North Philadelphia Middle School. Police Said 28 Children Took The Medication. Before her lunch period yesterday, a 13-year-old girl handed out Xanax pills she had stolen from a relative to some of her friends at Roberto Clemente Middle School, authorities said. By the end of the day, 12 students were taken to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, and four girls were being questioned by police anxious to know how the pills got onto the North Philadelphia school's grounds. [continues 782 words]
A small army of specialists converged on Roberto Clemente Middle School yesterday, a day after 28 students - 12 of whom received hospital treatment - - had taken powerful doses of Xanax that had been pillaged from a relative's home by a 13-year-old girl. Veteran police, school officials and experts agree they had never seen a mass consumption like the one at the North Philadelphia school. The prescription antianxiety drug had been passed among friends, ages 12 to 15, at lunch and swallowed mostly because of peer pressure, authorities said. [continues 918 words]
Saul Febo's Lawyer Says His Client Is Helping In Probes Of Camden'S Mayor And Possible Police Corruption A convicted drug dealer who helped bring down Camden's most notorious multimillion-dollar cocaine operation returned to the U.S. Attorney's Office yesterday to speak with officials investigating corruption in the mayor's office and Camden Police Department. Saul "Gordo" Febo, 32, who pleaded guilty to drug-conspiracy charges last year, is likely to be a key witness against Camden Mayor Milton Milan, who was indicted on corruption charges March 30, said Febo's attorney, Richard Sparaco. [continues 779 words]
Saul Febo Also Said Four Officers Tipped Off Dealers Or Took Bribes. The Mayor Has Denied Allegations. The day after Milton Milan was elected mayor of Camden in May 1997, he warned the leader of a multimillion-dollar drug organization that "the feds are watching," the drug leader testified yesterday. That is how Saul "Gordo" Febo, 32, learned that federal authorities were investigating his drug empire in East Camden and his close relationship with Milan, Febo said yesterday in a federal drug trial in U.S. District Court in Camden. [continues 1314 words]
Saul Febo is a drug-trial witness. He was one of two who named Camden's mayor, who is not charged. The leader of a multimillion-dollar, open-air drug market testified yesterday in federal court that he started his drug career selling cocaine for numerous drug dealers in North Camden, including Camden Mayor Milton Milan. Saul "Gordo" Febo, 32, said he "trapped" or sold drugs for Milan and others in the late 1980s, almost a decade before Milan became mayor. Febo said the two peddled drugs near Fifth and York Streets, the North Camden neighborhood where Milan grew up. [continues 572 words]
In the drug-conspiracy trial in Camden, a witness said the man who is now mayor sold $20 bags of cocaine. A convicted drug dealer yesterday testified that he had bought cocaine from Milton Milan in the 1980s and that Milan sold $20 bags of cocaine in Camden before he was elected mayor. Wilson "Chill Will" Torres also said in U.S. District Court that he had paid Milan $50 for bogus pay stubs to show a parole officer that he had a job as required when he got out of jail on drug charges in 1988. Torres said Milan gave him the stubs to show that Torres was working at a construction company Milan owned, even though Torres was not working there. [continues 1231 words]
Kenneth waller said he was tipped by a friend with a cousin in the Prosecutor's Office. It was unclear whether the investigator knew. A convicted drug dealer testified in a federal conspiracy trial yesterday that a friend, with ties to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, tipped him off before a drug raid and his arrest for his role in a multimillion-dollar drug operation. Kenneth "Blockhead" Waller said his friend Alfred "Curly" Kee is a first cousin to Jerome Kee, a narcotics investigator for the Prosecutor's Office. Waller said Alfred Kee had told him where law enforcement authorities placed surveillance cameras while investigating the East Camden drug operation, whose members killed those who betrayed them. It was unclear whether Jerome Kee was aware that information had been given to Waller. [continues 1089 words]
Juan Marquez testified he was afraid that two reputed Camden drug dealers might kill him. He is a top witness in their trial. During his fifth day of testimony, a paid FBI informant broke down crying yesterday as he spoke of his fears that he or his family members would be killed if reputed drug dealers learned he was cooperating with police. Juan Marquez, 36, buried his head in his hands and sobbed loudly in the fifth-floor courtroom in U.S. District Court in Camden, bringing questioning to an abrupt halt. [continues 534 words]
A witness in a trial testified that, while Milan was Council president, he told ring leaders of scheduled raids. Camden Mayor Milton Milan tipped off the reputed leaders of a multimillion dollar drug ring of pending police raids in 1997 and advised one of them that he was going to be arrested, an FBI informant testified yesterday. The informant, Juan Marquez, 36, also testified that he recorded a uniformed Camden police officer telling reputed drug lord Jose Luis "J.R." Rivera what information the officer had learned about a narcotics investigation. In the tapes, which were at times difficult to understand when played in the courtroom, a voice alleged to be that of Police Officer Michael Hearnes was also heard urging Rivera not to speak with narcotics investigators. [continues 1154 words]
The confessed drug dealer testified that the Camden mayor had fake documents created to conceal the source of drug money. A confessed drug dealer who was working as an FBI informant testified yesterday that Camden Mayor Milton Milan created phony documents to conceal $10,000 in drug profits for a multimillion-dollar drug ring. The paid informant, Juan Marquez, 36, of Camden, also testified that he agreed in 1996 to tape-record conversations of drug transactions. And he named Milan as one of the people whom authorities asked him to record. [continues 1179 words]
One testified yesterday that law-enforcement officials had been paid off. Another said the mayor had been a buyer. Two confessed drug dealers testified yesterday in U.S. District Court in Camden that a lucrative drug ring used bribes and contacts with high-ranking law-enforcement officials to thrive on the streets of Camden for more than a decade. During the federal drug-conspiracy trial of Jose Luis "J.R." Rivera and Luis "Tun Tun" Figueroa, one dealer, Angel Torres, mentioned Camden Mayor Milton Milan as a bulk buyer of cocaine in 1993. Torres, under questioning by prosecutor Sally Smith, said he delivered cocaine to "Davie, Milton, Tony." [continues 1080 words]
Saul Febo Will Aid In Prosecuting The Camden Group's Alleged Kingpin. CAMDEN -- A top organizer of a multimillion-dollar drug operation admitted his part in an execution-style murder and is cooperating with federal prosecutors to bring down the operation's reputed leader. Saul Febo, 32, of Pennsauken, pleaded guilty to drug charges this week. He remained in protective custody in a federal prison yesterday. Three codefendants, including Cherry Hill businessman Jose "J.R." Rivera, 39, who is accused of being the drug boss, learned this week that Febo, alleged to be the second-highest ranking member of the operation, appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez. "He basically decided he was going to come clean with it all and be truthful with everything he is saying at this point," said Febo's Cherry Hill attorney, Richard Sparaco. "Let the cards fall where the cards may fall." Febo faces a mandatory 10-year sentence on the drug charges, and could be sent to prison for life based on federal sentencing guidelines. However, the judge could depart from the guidelines depending on Febo's cooperation with prosecutors. [continues 790 words]
It is not just for boys now. Two area girls talk about their stays. SANDY CREEK TOWNSHIP -- Cpl. Heather McIvor paced the barracks at 6 a.m. as 30 girls kicked up a cloud of dust while getting ready that morning. "WILLIAMS!" McIvor snapped. Although only 5-foot-2, the corporal, known as a tower of terror, can draw enough air and might from her lungs to project far beyond her petite physique and rattle the bones of those around her. "Ma'am, aye-aye, ma'am," Heather Williams responded, standing at attention. "Your foot display is off. Fix it," the corporal ordered, waving a dismissive hand to the 17-year-old. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Williams chanted as she dropped to her knees and slightly moved her camp-issued boots, sneakers and shower shoes until the toes were perfectly aligned. [continues 1565 words]
Authorities say the Northeast gets up to 150 tons of cocaine a year. The 1,804 pounds of cocaine confiscated Sunday in Chester County is just a fraction of the amount of the drug brought into the Philadelphia region, police say. "What we're seeing is a glut of cocaine that is for sale on the market," state police Maj. Tyree Blocker said. "The drug of choice in Pennsylvania is cocaine, and it has been on the increase." On Sunday, Trooper Thomas Martinez pulled over a tractor-trailer on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after the driver changed lanes erratically in Honey Brook Township near the Morgantown Exit. After the driver gave written permission to search the trailer, authorities found 820 kilos of cocaine hidden under a load of cilantro. [continues 618 words]
In Chester County, 1,804 pounds of the drug were discovered. The street value topped $16 million. It started as a routine traffic stop, then turned into one of the state's largest drug seizures when a state trooper pulled over a tractor-trailer rumbling down the Pennsylvania Turnpike and found 1,804 pounds of pure cocaine, authorities said yesterday.State police and Chester County District Attorney Anthony Sarcione yesterday displayed 820 kilos, which they said had a street value of more than $16 million. The cocaine was neatly wrapped in plastic and packaged in crates with a shipment of the herb cilantro. [continues 376 words]
1,804 Pounds Found, Worth Over $16 Million It started as a routine traffic stop, then turned into one of the state's largest drug seizures when a state trooper pulled over a tractor-trailer rumbling down the Pennsylvania Turnpike and found 1,804 pounds of pure cocaine, authorities said yesterday. State police and Chester County District Attorney Anthony Sarcione yesterday displayed 820 kilos, which they said had a street value of more than $16 million. The cocaine was neatly wrapped in plastic and packaged in crates with a shipment of the herb cilantro. [continues 472 words]
