Prosecutor: NJ police officer busted for dealing illegal drugs

🔷 NJ police officer arrested

🔷 Officer accused of dealing drugs

🔷 Several drugs involved in charges

NEWARK — A 41-year-old officer with the city’s police department has been arrested and charged with dealing and possession of illegal drugs, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens announced on Wednesday.

Newark Police Officer Ricardo E. Garden was arrested on June 20 by detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Professional Standards Bureau after he was found to have various controlled dangerous substances.

Stephens' office previously had confirmed the arrest to New Jersey 101.5 but not the details.

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Garden was charged with third-degree possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school and 500 feet of a public park, both third-degree offenses.

Garden was also charged with third-degree possession of heroin and possession of more than one ounce but less than five pounds of marijuana, a fourth-degree offense.

Additionally, he also faced disorderly person charges of possession of Xanax and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

Garden has been suspended without pay during the investigation, according to Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé.

He has been a member of the Newark Police Division since Nov. 4, 2015.

Garden was briefly held in Essex County Jail and was released from custody after appearing in Essex County Court.

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