TOMS RIVER: Township police arrested three people after a surveillance team observed what they called “suspicious short-term traffic” coming in and out of a hotel room.
Following the arrests, police found nearly 600 packets of heroin, crack cocaine and more than $2,000 cash from a room at the Howard Johnson Hotel on Hooper Avenue, said Ralph Stocco, a spokesman with the Toms River Police Department.
Stocco said a police surveillance team noticed “suspicious short-term traffic” coming in and out of a room at the hotel. Police then arrested a 22-year-old woman from Brick, Brittney Gartner, as she left the hotel, Stocco said.
Gartner had an active warrant for her arrest out of Trenton and was in possession of 16 packets of heroin and three hypodermic syringes, Stocco said. She was charged with possession of heroin and possession of hypodermic syringes, and is being held at the Ocean County jail on $2,500 bail.
Police were able to identify one of the occupants of the room, Curtis Geathers, who had an active warrant for his arrest out of Seaside Heights, Stocco said. Police saw Geathers leave the room and then arrested him for the warrant, Stocco said. Police also identified 33-year-old Jashuawa Reid.
A search of the hotel room turned up 589 wax folds of heroin, a small amount of crack cocaine and marijuana and $2,652 cash, according to Stocco.
Geathers and Reid, both of Lakewood, were each charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin with the intent to distribute and possession of crack cocaine. Reid was also charged with possession of under 50 grams of marijuana.
