An Egg Harbor Township man was allegedly running a drug-trafficking network out of the home he shares with five children.
Woody Demosthenes, 35, was arrested Friday, following an investigation into activity at his Cromwell Court home.
Multiple law enforcement agencies searched the home on a warrant Friday morning, finding Demosthenes and five children inside, ages 3 to 15 home, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.
A search of the home led to the about 20,750 stamped bags of suspected heroin/fentanyl, 41.1 ounces of suspected loose heroin/fentanyl, 25.65 ounces of suspected cocaine and 11 ounces of suspected methamphetamine.
The heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine were in various areas in the basement and the master bedroom, according to the report.
The basement was set up as a workstation with a desk and paraphernalia, including ink pads, ink stampers matching what was stamped on the packaged product, a metal sifter, a digital scale, electronic blender/grinder with suspected narcotics residue, full white wax bags used in the packaging of heroin, a vacuum sealer, vacuum sealed bags, a “hazmat” suit, full-face respirator and cutting agents typically used to add weight to narcotics and therefore increase profitability, the state alleges.
Police also found a Taurus .45-caliber handgun on a shelf in an unsecured closet, the report states. It was on top of mail addressed to Demosthenes. The handgun had an extended 12-round ammunition magazine loaded with 10 hollow-point rounds.
A warranted search of his vehicle let to about $10,961 in cash believed to be from drug sales.
Demosthenes was charged with first and second-degree narcotics and weapons crimes, as well as five counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He is also a certain person not to possess a weapon.
Demosthenes was sentenced to eight years in prison in a 2014 drug case out of Pleasantville, where he previously lived, court records show. He was given a mandatory 3½ years of parole ineligibility at that tiem.
He is in the Atlantic County Justice Facility pending a detention hearing.
