According to Director Taylor, Roy Winston Harte, 52, of Irvington, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison, including six years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler in Essex County. Harte was convicted at trial on Oct. 7 of three counts of first-degree distribution of marijuana, two counts of first-degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, one count of second-degree conspiracy, and one count of third-degree distribution of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school.

Deputy Attorney General Veronica Allende tried Harte for the state and handled today’s sentencing hearing for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau. Harte was charged as the result of a joint investigation by the New Jersey State Police, Division of Criminal Justice and Arizona Department of Public Safety. A June 29, 2010 superseding indictment charged Harte and four co-defendants with conspiring in 2007 to ship about 513 pounds of marijuana via UPS and FedEx from Arizona to a business address in Fairfield, Essex County, N.J., where Harte worked as a production manager. The other four defendants pleaded guilty in September on the eve of trial.

“The five defendants in this case were major drug traffickers, as evidenced by the more than 500 pounds of marijuana that we seized with our law enforcement partners,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “Thanks to an outstanding multi-agency investigation and prosecution, we successfully interdicted their drug shipping operation and all five now face major prison time.”

“Criminals don’t confine their illicit enterprises within geographic borders,” said Director Taylor. “Fortunately, we don’t let borders or jurisdictional boundaries restrict our investigations either. This case involved great teamwork by state law enforcement agencies in New Jersey and Arizona, as well as federal and local agencies.”

“This cooperative investigation spanned the country, involving suspects in four states. But if they thought the distance between them would provide some cover, these results proved them wrong,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

These four defendants were sentenced previously by Judge Wigler, after each pleaded guilty to first-degree distribution of marijuana and third-degree distribution of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school:

The investigation revealed that on June 27, 2007, Brown and Giddings drove Phillips to a UPS store in Maricopa City, Arizona, where she shipped four packages containing marijuana. One of the packages was mailed to Toronto, Canada, and the others were sent to the business address in Fairfield, N.J., where Harte worked.

On July 3, 2007, Phillips attempted to send an additional four boxes containing marijuana to Harte, again addressed to the business in Fairfield. Two boxes were sent through UPS and two were sent via FedEx. Members of the Arizona Department of Public Safety seized those four boxes. Searches of the boxes revealed approximately 212 pounds of marijuana.

On July 5, 2007, three of the boxes sent on June 27 were delivered to Harte at the business address in Fairfield. Less than two hours after the delivery, McKoy and Harte loaded the boxes into McKoy’s car and McKoy drove away. The vehicle was stopped by the New Jersey State Police at the entrance to Route 46 in Fairfield and troopers arrested McKoy. The boxes in the car contained approximately 125 pounds of marijuana.

Later that day, members of the New Jersey State Police Drug Trafficking Central and North Units executed a search warrant at Harte’s place of employment in Fairfield and arrested him.

While the arrests were being made in New Jersey, authorities in Arizona executed a search warrant at Phillips’ residence in Maricopa City, Arizona, where they arrested Giddings and Brown. The search yielded approximately 170 pounds of marijuana, packaging material and a scale. Phillips arrived during the search and was also arrested.

On July 6, 2007, an attempt was made to deliver four additional packages from Arizona to the business address in Fairfield where Harte worked, two through UPS and two via FedEx. The packages were seized by the New Jersey State Police and were found to contain an additional 176 pounds of marijuana.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Sgt. 1st Class Mark Primerano, Detective Chris Wright and other members of the New Jersey State Police Drug Trafficking Central and North Units. Deputy Attorney General Allende presented the superseding indictment to the state grand jury and prosecuted the cases with Deputy Attorney General Christopher Romanyshyn for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, which is led by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Mark Eliades. Members of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, including Detective Scott Dodd, provided critical assistance with the investigation in Arizona. Special Agent Brian Mix of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Detective Charles Zampino of the Fairfield (N.J.) Township Police Department also provided critical assistance.