Essex County Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Drugs into Detention Center

An Essex County man admitted yesterday illegally possessing a firearm and conspiring to smuggle contraband into a federal pretrial detention center, according to the United States District Attorney’s Office.

Muhammad Subpunallah, 33, of Orange, pleaded guilty in District Court yesterday to an indictment charging him with the illegal possession of a firearm and to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to smuggle contraband, including marijuana and tobacco, into the Essex County Correctional Facility, a federal pretrial detention facility, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

According to authorities, Subpunallah had a .38 caliber firearm in his waistband while standing near Broad and Market streets in Newark on Oct. 11, 2011. He had previously been convicted of robbery in Essex County Superior Court.

After Subpunallah was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm, he engaged in a plot to smuggle tobacco and marijuana into the Essex County Correctional Facility, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He and a relative, Vladimir Sauzereseteo, engaged in the conspiracy from September 2013 to February 2014.

Sauzereseteo was directed to deliver contraband to Brian Kapalin, a New Jersey lawyer, who would then smuggle it into the correctional facility in exchange for cash. Subpunallah would send other inmates to the attorney visitor room to collect the contraband from Kapalin, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

In January 2014, Subpunallah and Kapalin spoke over a recorded correctional facility phone, where Subpunallah asked Kapalin to deliver contraband to an inmate at the facility. Sauzereseteo purchased the marijuana and delivered it, along with the cash payment, to Kapalin. Kapalin then met with an inmate from the Essex County Correctional Facility and delivered the marijuana, authorities said.

The charge of illegally possessing a firearm carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while the charge of conspiring to provide contraband to inmates at the correctional facility, carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Subpunallah’s sentencing is scheduled for July 20. He is being held without bail.