Two New Jersey residents were recently in Staten Island, New York. The two men were arrested on drug charges for allegedly selling and being in possession of “party drugs”. The two accused were individually charged with different drug charges stemming from the same incident.
Both of the accused were at the Page Avenue shopping center, in Richmond Valley, when the arrest occurred. The arrest happened at approximately 1:13 p.m. in the parking lot of the shopping center. One of the accused was arrested for the drug charge of selling ecstasy and the other accused was arrested for being in possession of prescription pills.
The New Jersey men were arrested pursuant to a drug bust by undercover law enforcement, when one of the accused sold ecstasy to an undercover law enforcement agent. The accused who sold to the undercover agent was charged with the two criminal charges of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.
The second accused, who was accompanying the first man, was charged for being in possession of the drugs oxycodone and Xanax. The second accused was criminally charged with seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance.
Law enforcement identified the drug that was sold during the undercover drug bust as MDMA, which is commonly referred to as the drug ecstasy. It was reported that the accused rebutted the accusation that the substance was ecstasy by claiming the substance was bath salt. Bath salts are synthetic drugs that have chemical elements that are similar to the drug ecstasy.
Source: Staten Island Advance, “Two N.J. men face drug charges after undercover bust on Staten Island,” John M. Annese, Feb. 22, 2012