Man Pleads Guilty To Dealing Cocaine From Brick Home

BRICK, NJ — A Brick Township man has pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution in connection with a drug investigation in 2023 where multiple narcotics and 10 handguns were seized, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Henry Burns, 56, pleaded guilty on Monday to possession of cocaine in an amount greater than 5 ounces with intent to distribute, as well as being a certain person not to possess a weapon, before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Burns was arrested on May 17, 2023, following a monthlong investigation. Authorities determined Burns was using a home in Brick and a store in Asbury Park to store and distribute cocaine, the prosecutor's office said.

They began surveillance on the two locations and on May 17, saw Burns leave the house and travel to a business in Red Bank, the prosecutor's office said. Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force then arrested Burns without incident.

Search warrants were executed at the Brick home and the Asbury Park store and detectives seized unspecified amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone, naproxan, alprazolam, 10 handguns, high-capacity ammunition magazines, multiple rounds of ammunition, and approximately $8,000 in cash at the house, Billhimer said.

Burns is being held at the Ocean County Jail, where he has been since his arrest.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 8, at which time the state is seeking 15 years in prison on the narcotics charge and 10 years in prison, with five years of parole ineligibility, on the weapons charge, with the sentences to run concurrently, Billhimer said.

Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Burke is handling the case on behalf of the state. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Brick Township Police Department SWAT Team, Asbury Park Police Department, City of Deal Police Department K-9 Unit, and Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit collaborated on the investigation and the arrest, the prosecutor's office said.