A 22-year-old Guttenberg resident was arrested Wednesday and charged with a series of drug counts, after he allegedly tried to sell cocaine to an undercover female detective in a North Bergen parking lot.
According to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, Rony Ricardo Ventura-Siri, a resident of the 6800 block of Madison Street in Guttenberg, was brought into custody after he allegedly arranged to meet the female officer for a drug sale of 35 grams of cocaine on the corner of 70th Street and Kennedy Boulevard.
“This was part of an investigation that was going on for many months,” DeFazio said. “This was an off-shoot of other things the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Task Force had been working on.”
DeFazio said that Ventura-Siri arranged to meet the officer at that location, allegedly with the intent of selling the narcotics.
After he was brought into custody, a search warrant was issued for Ventura-Siri’s residence. DeFazio said that investigating detectives uncovered 370 grams of cocaine with a street value of more than $20,000, as well as $900 in cash.
“There was also an assortment of drug paraphernalia, like scales, grinders, packaging,” DeFazio said. “This was clearly an operation where the suspect was dealing.”
Ventura-Siri was charged with possession, intent to distribute, and intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school.
“It’s a first degree offense with the amount involved,” DeFazio said.
Ventura-Siri was brought to the Hudson County Jail. Bail was set at $250,000. At press time, Ventura-Siri remains in custody. If convicted, Ventura-Siri faces as many as 20 years in prison.
“It’s a pretty substantial arrest,” DeFazio said. “It was part of an ongoing investigation that culminated in the final sale to an undercover agent.”
It marks the second substantial arrest made by the Narcotics Task Force in the last few weeks.
On Dec. 13, detectives arrested two Union City men, one of whom is 69 years old, in West New York and charged them with possession and intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine.
DeFazio believes the two arrests are not related.