TRENTON, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man today was sentenced to 120 months in prison for his role as the supplier of large quantities of heroin and cocaine in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy in the Bayshore area of Monmouth and Middlesex counties, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced today.
Gregory Gillens, 47, of Hillside, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin. Gillens also admitted to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine. Judge Martinotti imposed the sentence today via videoconference.
Today’s sentence follows a coordinated takedown in November 2018 of 15 defendants charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine. To date, 12 defendants have pleaded guilty, including lead defendant Guy Jackson. Defendant Deberal Rogers has been indicted.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From May 2017 to November 2018, Gillens and others engaged in a narcotics conspiracy that operated in the Raritan Bayshore region of Middlesex and northern Monmouth counties.
Through the interception of telephone calls and text messages pursuant to court-authorized wiretap orders, controlled purchases of heroin and cocaine, the use of confidential sources of information, and other investigative techniques, law enforcement officers learned that Gillens regularly supplied large quantities of heroin and cocaine for further distribution, including to co-defendant Jackson. Some of the heroin distributed by the conspiracy contained fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid.
Pursuant to search warrants executed on the day of Gillens’ arrest or soon thereafter, law enforcement recovered more than $96,000 in cash and more than 600 grams of cocaine from Gillens’ former residence and from inside a vehicle he had previously used to deal narcotics. The vehicle and the cash have been administratively forfeited to the United States.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Martinotti sentenced Gillens to five years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, Red Bank Resident Agency, Jersey Shore Gang and Criminal Organization Task Force (including representatives from the Bradley Beach Police Department, Brick Police Department, Howell Police Department, Marlboro Police Department, Monmouth County Sheriff's Office, Toms River Police Department, and Union Beach Police Department) under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr.; special agents of the FBI, Philadelphia Division, Scranton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Driscoll; the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent; the Matawan Police Department, under the direction of Chief Thomas J. Falco, Jr.; the Holmdel Police Department, under the direction of Chief John Mioduszewski; the Highlands Police Department, under the direction of Chief Robert Burton; the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni; the Old Bridge Police Department, under the direction of Chief William A. Volkert; the Keansburg Police Department, under the direction of Chief James K. Pigott; the Hazlet Police Department, under the direction of Chief Philip Meehan; and the Aberdeen Police Department, under the direction of Chief Richard A. Derechailo, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa T. Wiygul of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.
The charges and allegations against the remaining three defendants are merely accusations and they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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