An Essex County Superior Court judge recently sentenced an Orange NJ man to eight years in New Jersey State Prison for illegal handgun possession and cocaine possession.
The suspect was arrested on April 29, 2016. He was walking in the area of the Hickory Street and Taylor Street in Orange NJ when a couple of Orange cops spotted him carrying a handgun. The suspect allegedly tried to run from police, with the Orange NJ cops eventually chasing him down and placing him under arrest.
During the pursuit, the suspect allegedly tossed a .380 Smith and Wesson semi-automatic handgun over a fence and into a residential yard. Detectives later recovered the firearm.
Additionally, Orange NJ police reportedly found the suspect in possession of 20 Ziploc bags filled with crack cocaine.
The suspect is a 28-year-old man from Orange, New Jersey. Prosecutors charged him with unlawful possession of a weapon, cocaine possession, and resisting arrest by flight.
The case went to trial in October 2016, with the jury ultimately convicting the suspect on all the criminal charges.
The suspect recently appeared in Essex County Superior Court, located in Newark, for an official sentencing hearing. The judge sentenced the suspect to eight years for the weapons offense, four years for the drug crime, and 18 months for resisting arrest. Since the sentences will run concurrently, the suspect will have to serve eight years behind bars. The suspect will not become eligible for release on parole for at least four years.
One factor in the harsh sentence handed down to the suspect was likely his checkered criminal past. According to law enforcement records, the suspect was previously convicted of distributing drugs and illegally possessing a weapon.
For more information about this case, see the NJ.com article, “Man Sentenced for Having Gun, Drugs in Orange.”
