Leader of Narcotics Trafficking Network Pleads Guilty
Jeremy Zahn, 27, of Brick entered a guilty plea yesterday to the following charges: Leader of a Narcotics Trafficking Network (1st Degree), Financial Facilitation (2nd Degree) and two (2) Eluding charges (2nd Degree) before the Honorable Francis R. Hodgson, JSC. As part of the plea, the defendant will serve 16 years in NJSP with an 8 year period of parole ineligibility. He will also be required to pay a $200,000 Anti-Drug Profiteering penalty. Zahn was released on $350,000 no 10% bail on August 25, 2014.
Zahn was the lead defendant in the investigation dubbed “Operation Roadrunner.” The investigation began in August of 2012 and culminated on Friday April 5, 2013. Over a four day period beginning Tuesday April 2, 2013, Police executed search warrants in multiple states and counties resulting in the arrest of 25 men and women on various drug, weapons and money laundering charges. The investigation established probable cause to obtain search warrants, which were executed at homes and businesses located in Lakewood, Manchester Township, Toms River, Brick Township, West Windsor (Mercer County), North Caldwell (Essex County), and Tinton Falls (Monmouth County).
As a result of the execution of the search warrants law enforcement authorities confiscated large amounts of marijuana, large quantities of MDMA (Ecstasy), prescription pills including Oxycodone, Roxicet, Zanax, Methadone and Suboxone, large quantities of L.S.D. and psilocybin mushrooms, multiple firearms, including a loaded Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum handgun, a loaded 9mm American Tactical pistol, a Weatherby 7 mm rifle, as well as approximately $91,000 in cash. Police also seized several bank accounts that were found to contain proceeds from this illicit drug network, one of which contained approximately $70,000 in drug proceeds. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Operation Group, along with members of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Newark Division Asset Forfeiture Unit seized 15 vehicles as a result of this investigation.
Jeremy Zahn
Photo courtesy Ocean County Jail
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