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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that a Cumberland County man pleaded
guilty today to illegally distributing prescription
narcotics.
According
to Director Taylor, Tony McGowan, 51, of
Millville, pleaded guilty to two counts
of second-degree distribution of a controlled
dangerous substance before Superior Court
Judge Darrell M. Fineman in Cumberland County.
McGowan admitted that on two occasions,
on Feb. 4 and Feb. 16, 2011, he sold oxycodone
tablets outside a convenience store in Millville.
In each instance, he sold 80 tablets to
an undercover detective of the Division
of Criminal Justice.
Under
the plea agreement, the state will recommend
that McGowan be sentenced to five years
in prison. He must forfeit a Ford F-150
pickup truck and a Ford Econoline van that
he used in his drug distribution activities.
He will be permanently barred from public
employment in the state.
McGowan,
who formerly was employed by the New Jersey
Department of Human Services as a training
technician at the Woodbine Developmental
Center, was terminated by the Department
of Human Services after his arrest on March
17 in this investigation. There is no evidence
that McGowan obtained the narcotics from
his place of employment.
Deputy
Attorney General Pearl Minato took the guilty
plea for the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau. Judge Fineman scheduled
McGowan to be sentenced on Sept. 23.
The
Division of Criminal Justice began investigating
McGowan after learning that he was dealing
prescription narcotics. Two undercover detectives
from the Division of Criminal Justice’s
Corruption Bureau and Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau made a total of six purchases
of narcotic pain and anti-anxiety pills
from McGowan, including oxycodone, hydrocodone
and Valium. Detectives executed a search
warrant at McGowan’s residence at
the time of his arrest and seized approximately
2,600 presciption pills, including hydrocodone
pills.
Deputy
Attorney General Minato, Sgt. Richard M.
Carlin and Detective Paul A. Marfino Jr.
were assigned to the case for the Division
of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau. Detective
Cortney Lawrence of the Division of Criminal
Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau
and Detective Michael Duffield of the Division
of Criminal Justice MVC Unit were also assigned
to the case.
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