An Atlantic City man charged with running a drug-manufacturing facility after a car stop was ordered held in jail Friday.
The judge cited the growing drug crisis and the defendant's history of distribution in his decision.
"Drug distribution is not a victimless act," Superior Court Judge Todd Miller said. "The person collects the cash, they put 15, 20, 100 wax folds into the community and everyone gets addicted."
Aki Bey, 46, was pulled over at about 1:30 a.m. April 12, after Officer Joseph Kelly Jr. saw him driving in an erratic manner in the 100 block of Ohio Avenue, police previously said.
He also did not have his lights on and was driving an unregistered vehicle, according to the affidavit of probable cause read in court Friday.
Bey failed a field sobriety test, and during his arrest police found drugs and $1,646 in cash on him, the charges claim.
Inside the vehicle, police found a brick of heroin. All totaled, police recovered 563 wax folds of suspected heroin, along with Oxycodone and Xanax, police said. There was also a prescription bottle prescribed to an unknown third party, Assistant Prosecutor Gina DeAnnuntis said.
Bey's "significant criminal history" includes first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, forgery and drug convictions, DeAnnuntis said.
Bey suffers from epilepsy and anxiety disorder, for which he has not received his medication since in the jail, defense attorney Stephen Funk said.
That could explain why Bey missed an earlier court date, when it was disclosed that he was in holding and had a laceration to his tongue.
But it was the growing drug problem that had the judge's focus, as he cited Centers for Disease Control numbers that showed overdose deaths doubled from 50,000 in 2019 to 100,000 in 2021.
"The mid-level, high-level people distributing drugs are killing people," Miller said before ordering Bey held. "We're here for detention to protect the community."
He spoke of Family Court cases in which parents lost custody or died due to their addictions, along with babies born bearing the scars of the heroin their mother used.
Bey will remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility as his case goes through the courts.
NOTE: The Atlantic County jail no longer releases mugshots under a ban by the former prosecutor.
