Attorney General Zulima V. Farber and Division of Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that a Union Township man was sentenced today to 10 years in state prison for selling cocaine.

Gerald Nave Jr., 31, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge William L’E. Wertheimer in Union County to 10 years in state prison with three years of parole ineligibility on a single charge of distribution of cocaine.

A state grand jury returned a five-count indictment against Nave on Dec. 8, 2005 charging him with first-degree distribution of cocaine; second-degree distribution of the prescription painkiller ocycodone; second-degree conspiracy to distribute cocaine and oxycodone; third-degree possession of cocaine; and third-degree possession of oxcodone. Nave pleaded guilty in February to the highest charge, first-degree distribution of cocaine.

An investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice - Organized Crime Racketeering Bureau determined that Nave was selling both cocaine and oxycodone. The investigation revealed that Nave sold more than five ounces of cocaine in a series of transactions as well as numerous Endocet tablets. Endocet is a brand of oxycodone with acetaminophen.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades, head of the Division of Criminal Justice - Organized Crime Racketeering Bureau.