Man Arrested After Walking Streets With Assault Rifle, Police Say

Officers from the Essex County Sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics Monday arrested two people as part of an ongoing crackdown on drug trafficking in the East Ward, a department spokesman said in a statement.

A third person was also arrested Monday on weapons charges after he was spotted carrying an assault rifle with hollow-point bullets as he walked through a North Ward neighborhood, police said.

Narcotics officers, who had obtained a warrant to conduct surveillance of 84 Thomas St., allegedly witnessed a hand-to-hand drug transaction near the home. Officers arrested Tanya Quiles and Christian Hernandez, both 25-year-old city residents.  

When officers searched a second-floor apartment at the home they found more than 36 grams of cocaine, five baggies of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a .45-caliber handgun, the sheriff’s office said.

In another room, officers also discovered a loaded M15 assault rifle with a high-capacity magazine and 26 rounds of ammunition, the sheriff's office said.

The two were charged with numerous weapons and narcotics violations, including unlawful possession of an assault rifle, conspiracy and for dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of Tichenor Park. They were each being held on $200,000 bail Tuesday.

Also Monday, a man was arrested after he was allegedly spotted walking through a North Ward neighborhood carrying a rifle. Patrolling officers detained Kevin Perry, 19, of Newark, along Stone Street as he was carrying a Mooseberg 22-caliber long rifle and 14 hollow-point bullets, the sheriff’s office said.