According to court filings, evidence of a drug-packaging operation was found at a residence in Elizabeth, and additional heroin in a hotel room in Avenel
NEWARK -- Two men are facing drug charges carrying potential sentences of up to life imprisonment after they allegedly were caught with more than 2 pounds of heroin during a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation in Union and Middlesex counties.
James Anthony Mangum and Jairo Rosado are both charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin, and actual distribution and possession of heroin under a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Newark.
According to the complaint, filed by a DEA task force officer and unsealed Wednesday, the two men were arrested Saturday after investigators who confronted them in the driveway of a residence in Linden found approximately a kilogram of heroin inside a suitcase in Mangum's car.
Both men had been under surveillance as part of an ongoing investigation into a drug-trafficking organization operating in the state, the complaint states.
Investigators later found evidence of an apparent drug-packaging operation at Rosado's residence in Elizabeth, and two more vacuum-sealed packages of heroin in Mangum's room at a hotel in Avenel, according to the complaint.
Man sentenced to 5 years for importing 1 pound of heroin
The charges they face carry mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years in prison and maximum potential sentences of life in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
Both men appeared Tuesday before Magistrate Judge Leda D. Wettre, who set Rosado's bail at $200,000 unsecured and remanded Mangum to custody pending a bail application.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.