An Egg Harbor Township man who had several drug arrests while on special probation is now being held in a case linking him to two alleged drug-manufacturing facilities and four guns.
Kalik Lane and Star Bishop were running a drug ring that put heroin/fentanyl stamped "Porsche" into the community, according to an investigation led by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force.
Investigators found empty bags along with the Porsche stamp and ink pad at Lane's home on London Court. There was also drugs in a Chevy Impala he was known to use, and $17,772 in multiple envelopes in a safe inside the home.
Bishop, 34, was found at her Atlantic City home with drugs and guns, including one reported stolen from Georgia, according to charges.
When officers entered the Drexel Avenue residence, Bishop pointed them to an unsecured pantry where there was a Glock 27 handgun, large-capacity ammunition magazine, about two ounces of suspected fentanyl, less than a half-ounce of suspected crack cocaine and a device used to conceal urine addressed to Lane at his township home, according to the affidavit.
There were three more guns in a safe in the master bedroom, the affidavit states.
Bishop shares the home with her children, ages 13 and 15.
The charges allege the home was a stash house for the illegal enterprise run by Lane and Bishop ran.
But her attorney said Lane had a key to the home because Bishop — a cousin by marriage — was allowing him to leave some belongings there. She was often at work and her children at school when Lane would come by, attorney Michael Schreiber said at her detention hearing.
Lane's attorney argued, however, Thursday that there is nothing tying his client to the arsenal at Bishop's home.
"Multiple individuals were in and out of the house," Durann Neil told the judge. "They don't know all of the individuals who frequent that house."
He instead pointed to the small amount of drugs found at Lane's home and inside a Chevy Impala, which is registered to Johanna Santos-Rodriguez, but was driven by Lane.'
Neil also noted that Bishop as released from jail with conditions following her detention hearing Monday before Judge Nancy Ridgway.
"I can’t see how my client is a danger to the community when another individual with the same charges is not danger to the community," Neil said.
Judge William Miller then asked about the co-defendant's criminal history.
"Your client here has an extensive criminal history," the judge said of Lane.
In fact, Lane was put on special probation in 2020, and since then has incurred at least three more drug cases, according to the timeline presented by Chief Assistant Prosecutor Allison Eiselen.
"He's gotten the benefit of a lot of diversionary programs," the judge said. "He's gotten consideration by the court, and he flaunts it."
Lane's criminality has instead escalated, the judge said.
He also pointed to the unknown victims affected by the drugs that have been put on the street.
"It may not be an act of violence, but it's violent in its impact to the community," he said.
Lane, 35, will now remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility pending resolution of the case.
Bishop is on release, with required weekly check-ins with the court.
