A retired Egg Harbor City man will stay jailed on charges he was distributing drugs with two guns in his home.
John Malluck, 66, was arrested at his Harbor City Apartments home last week after an investigation led to to a warranted search by Egg Harbor City police and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Unit.
Two firearms, ammunition, various pills, baggies with suspected drug residue, broken glass pipes and various drug-packaging materials were seized, Assistant Prosecutor Paige Cramer told the judge during a detention hearing Thursday.
The guns appear to be legally owned but become a crime when possessed in conjunction with a drug crime.
The search was part of an ongoing investigation into the distribution of illegal narcotics in the city, according to the affidavit.
That blanket statement does nothing to support the state's case for intent to distribute charges, defense attorney Sarah Weinstock argued.
Malluck is retired from the state Department of Transportation and suffers from kidney and intestinal cancer, she added. He also cares for his ailing wife.
But a recent failure to appear and several drug-related arrests in the past two years raised concerns. The public safety assessment, which is used to help determine whether a defendant is held under bail reform, recommended he not be released.
Judge Donna Taylor agreed, noting he may be a good candidate for Recovery Court.
This was Malluck's fifth drug-related arrest since Jan. 18, 2022, when he was charged with wandering/prowling for controlled dangerous substances in Egg Harbor City.
He pleaded in that case this summer, court records show. Since then, he had two more arrests, including possession while operating a motor vehicle in Absecon.
Malluck put his head in his hands when the judge said he would not be released.
He did not speak during the hearing. He appeared via video from the jail, where his mic was muted.
