An alleged member a Pleasantville gang charged in connection to a fatal shootout on the Atlantic City Expressway is back in jail after being let out on bail twice.
This time, Wilbert Demosthenes allegedly led Pleasantville police on a chase, which ended with him arrested by Patrolmen Ryan VanSyckle and Daniel Davis with 41 bags of suspected heroin and 10 grams of suspected cocaine/fentanyl, Capt. Matt Hartman said.
VanSyckle had tried to stop Demosthenes at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Tremont and McKinley avenues, according to the report.
Demosthenes refused to stop and led VanSyckle on a vehicle pursuit through several residential neighborhoods before abandoning the vehicle behind the Dollar General on South New Road and running along with his passenger, Naseir Hampton.
General Investigations Detectives Pablo Solorzano and Mark Millard found Hampton about a block away in possession of about 4½ ounces of marijuana packaged for distribution.
Hampton, 18, of Pleasantville, was released on a summons.
Demosthenes is back in the Atlantic County Justice Facility. Under the new bail reform, the prosecutor could move for a detention hearing to keep him jailed this time.
Demosthenes was first arrested Aug. 29, 2016, after a battle that started in the Atlantic County Criminal Courthouse resulted in a shootout on the Atlantic City Expressway where one man was killed and four others injured.
He had left the area and was found in a Philadelphia hospital with a bullet wound to his right arm.
Demosthenes was jailed on $250,000 bail, which he was able to pay.
Then, the next month, he was arrested again.
This time, Pleasantville police found 47 grams of uncut drugs believed to be heroin and cocaine inside a car he had.
This time, he was jailed on $150,000 bail, which he again paid.
In June, Demosthenes and two co-defendants were indicted on a dozen charges each in the expressway case, including three counts pertaining to gang criminality and a count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
Demosthenes and the two others are allegedly members of the Southside Mob, a gang centered in Pleasantville’s southside and affiliated with the Haitian mob.
There is no bail for Demosthenes this time, under bail reform. Instead, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office has the option of requesting a detention hearing that could keep him jailed until trial.
