2 Arrested With Cocaine On Turnpike

By John Way Jennings, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: December 01, 1988

A man and a woman from New York were arrested yesterday after New Jersey State Police stopped them for a traffic violation on the New Jersey Turnpike in Middlesex County and found 22 pounds of cocaine in the car.

Lt. Barry Roberson, a state police spokesman, said the cocaine was en route for distribution in the Camden and Philadelphia areas. Police said it had a street value of $400,000.

In addition to the drugs, authorities said they recovered $14,620 in cash and a stiletto from Israel Hernandez, 37, one of those arrested. Hernandez, of

Harlem, was being held in the Middlesex County Jail pending a bail hearing scheduled today. He was charged with possession, and possession with intent to distribute, cocaine.

Also arrested was Monica Rivas, 18, of New York City. Police charged her with the same narcotics violations as Hernandez.

Roberson said Trooper John Beyers of the New Brunswick Station stopped

Hernandez at 11:30 a.m. yesterday as he was driving south on the turnpike in Woodbridge in a 1976 Ford without an inspection sticker. Police said Hernandez could not produce a registration card and appeared very nervous.

During a pat-down search, Beyers discovered the knife in the man's pocket. Police also found $1,431 in his pocket and $13,189 in a tool box in the trunk of the car. Also in the trunk, police said, they found the 22 pounds of cocaine inside a red zippered cloth bag. Police turned the cash over to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

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