Security News: Burlington County Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Role in Drug Trafficking Organization

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TRENTON, N.J. – A Burlington County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine and crack cocaine throughout Burlington County, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Herbert Mays, 65, of Willingboro, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi to a superseding indictment charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 280 grams of crack cocaine. Judge Quraishi imposed the sentence on July 20, 2022, in Trenton federal court.

Eighteen other members of the drug trafficking conspiracy have pleaded guilty. The charges against two other defendants remain pending; the charges against them are merely accusations, and they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Between July 2019 and September 2019, Mays, his codefendants and others engaged in a narcotics conspiracy that operated primarily in municipalities throughout Burlington County – including Willingboro, Burlington City, Burlington Township, Bordentown Township, and Edgewater Park – and which sought to profit from the distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine. Law enforcement officials learned that defendants obtained regular supplies of cocaine from co-conspirators in the Philadelphia area and elsewhere and then redistributed that cocaine, portions of which defendants converted into crack cocaine, for profit, to other conspirators, distributors, sub-dealers, and end users throughout Burlington County and elsewhere. Law enforcement officials intercepted numerous communications by and between the conspirators regarding such issues as cocaine and crack cocaine quality and availability, pricing, packaging, quantity, and customer satisfaction.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Quraishi sentenced Mays to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, Trenton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark; special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews; detectives of the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Burlington County Prosecutor Lachia L. Bradshaw; officers of the Burlington Township Police Department, under the direction of Director of Public Safety Bruce Painter; officers of the Willingboro Police Department, under the direction of Acting Director of Public Safety Ian Bucs; officers of the Burlington City Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police John Fine; officers of the Florence Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Brian Boldizar; officers of the Bordentown Township Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Brian Pesce; officers of the Edgewater Park Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Brett V. Evans; officers of the Ewing Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Albert Rhodes; officers of the Westampton Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Stephen Ent; officers of the Trenton Police Department, under the direction of Director Steve Wilson with the investigation leading to the sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martha K. Nye of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton and Andrew B. Johns of the Criminal Division in Camden.