TRENTON -- A Paterson man pleaded guilty to first-degree drug charges Wednesday after authorities said they found a large-scale heroin-producing operation inside his home.
Marino Pimentel-Tejada, 35, pleaded guilty to a charge of maintaining a heroin production facility during an appearance in front of Superior Court Judge Marilyn C. Clark in Passaic County, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
Authorities claim they dismantled a major drug trafficking ring when State Police detectives acting on a search warrant found a table "overflowing" with raw and packaged heroin inside the man's home last June.
Three other Paterson residents -- Yinsys Pimentel-Tejada, 28, Manuel Garcia-Tejada, 31, and Nuris Dominguez-Lara, 34 -- also pleaded guilty to a second-degree charge of conspiracy to maintain a heroin production facility for their roles in the scheme, authorities said.
State Police target alleged heroin mill
A fifth, Robert Grady, 40, pleaded guilty today to third-degree possession of methamphetamine, authorities said.
Under a plea deal, state prosecutors are recommending Marino Pimentel-Tejada receive a 10-year sentence and that his co-conspirators get seven years. Grady faces five years in prison.
"All too often, these mills are not only responsible for manufacturing the poison that is heroin, but they are responsible for the violence that goes hand-in hand with drug trafficking," Col. Rick Fuentes, the head of the State Police, said in a statement announcing the guilty pleas. "We will continue to shut these mills down, arrest those responsible, and work with our partners to ensure successful prosecution."
A spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice said authorities were dropping charges against two women who were also indicted in the scheme -- Isamar Batista, 26, of West New York, and Antoipis Pimentel-Tejada, 30, of Paterson -- after their co-defendants provided testimony that they weren't involved.
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