Assemblyman’s Tip Leads to Drug Bust in Camden

A tip from a local assemblyman led to the arrest last week of a drug dealer who was carrying more than 1,500 baggies of heroin, Camden County Police said.

Assemblyman Gilbert “Whip” Wilson, a retired Camden police lieutenant and honorary chief of the county department, passed along information about the possibility of a drug deal in North Camden on Sept. 26, police said, prompting the department to beef up patrols in that part of the city.

Within hours, Officers Kyle Pesce and Ian Paulic stopped a car near 9th and State streets, police said, and the driver, Larry James, 20, of Camden, jumped out from the passenger’s-side door and took off running.

Paulic chased down James and caught him in the yard of a home on 7th Street, police said.

In the process of jumping out of the car, James dropped a plastic bag, police said, which popped open, spilling several bags of heroin, and officers ultimately recovered four boxes containing roughly 1,525 baggies of the drugs—one of the largest seizures in the city in recent years.

“This shows what can happen when the community and the police have an open dialogue,” Wilson said. “Even though I’ve been retired for 18 years, people still feel comfortable reaching out to me about what’s going on in their neighborhoods. That’s the sort of relationship the men and women of the Camden County Police Department are now building with the community.”

James was charged with distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, distribution of a controlled dangerous substance within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of a controlled dangerous substance and resisting arrest.

He was taken to the Camden County Jail in default of $100,000 cash or bond bail.