Alleged gang members and two fugitive murder suspects were among 75 people from Atlantic City and Camden arrested in a anti-violence crackdown, officials announced Wednesday.
“Operation Summer in the City 2” ran from June 10 to 14, and builds off of last year’s efforts.
Both operations are part of a collaborative effort developed by Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and U.S. Marshal for the District of New Jersey Juan Mattos to address summer, when violence tends to increase.
Sixteen were arrested in Atlantic City, with 56 in the Camden area and three found in other states with warrants from South Jersey.
More than 15 federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies participated.
“The U.S. Marshals Service is thankful for the relationships that we have with our city, county, state, and federal law enforcement partners that worked tenaciously in excessive and exhaustive heat conditions to make ‘Operation Summer in the City 2’ a huge success,” Mattos said. “This fugitive sweep by the NY/NJ RFTF is not the end, nor even a break, in the U.S. Marshals fight against violent crime and narcotics trafficking in New Jersey. Additional operations are forthcoming and we are coming to your city in the very near future.”
The 75 arrests included 26 documented gang members, including 17 Bloods, eight Crips, and one Latin King.
“We are using every tool in our toolbox to fight violent crime in New Jersey,” Grewal said. “We are taking the most violent and dangerous fugitives off the streets, and we’re doing it right as the summer starts heating up. I’m grateful for the leadership of U.S. Marshal Mattos on this important project and for the partnership of so many other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Together, we can make New Jersey the safest state in the country.”
Ordale Telfair, 37, was wanted for murder in the shooting death of Tayshon Hayward, 26, of Penns Grove, N.J., on May 23, 2019. Telfair was arrested on June 12 by members of the U.S. Marshals Service South East Regional Fugitive Task Force in Powder Springs, Georgia. He was located based on leads developed by the Camden Division and Counter Gang Unit of the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task. Telfair had been released from prison just eight days before the murder.
Jamar Hurd, 18, of Durham, N.C., was arrested in Mays Landing, on June 11, in connection with two robberies in North Carolina, both involving the theft of handguns, including one that was taken during the burglary of a law enforcement officer’s vehicle.
Ramike Medina-Brown, 23, of Camden, was wanted for murder in the May 25 stabbing death of Eileen Brown, 53, of Camden. He was arrested in Manhattan on June 14 by members of the New York City Division of the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force, based on leads developed by the Camden Division.
Glenn Preston, 24, also of Camden, was arrested on June 11, by members of the Camden Division and Counter Gang Unit of the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force. He was in possession of a backpack containing a loaded .45-caliber handgun, 22 additional hollow-point bullets, and approximately 180 vials of crack cocaine.
Joseph Long, 31, of Monroe Township, was wanted by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office on a first-degree charge of strict liability for a drug-induced death in connection with his alleged trafficking of heroin and fentanyl. He was arrested on June 12 in Monroe Township by members of the Camden Division and Counter Gang Unit of the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.
The U.S. Marshals Gang Enforcement Program is part of the Agency’s Organized Crime and Gangs Branch, OCAG. Through strategic fugitive investigations, the OCAG seeks to disrupt and destabilize criminal networks holistically, from the street level gangster to high-ranking leaders of the most notorious Transnational Criminal Organizations. In the state of New Jersey alone, the U.S. Marshals Service Gang and Regional Fugitive Task Forces have arrested 126 documented gang members from January through June of this year. In that same time frame, a total of 950 fugitives have been arrested by U.S. Marshals Task Forces in New Jersey and that number continues to grow, as each and every single day, some of the most violent offenders in the state are apprehended.
