Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that on August 12, 2022, Cory Winston, 31, of Jackson, was sentenced to five years in New Jersey State Prison (NJSP) as a result of his previously entered guilty plea to Possession of more than One-Half Ounce but less than Five Ounces of Heroin with Intent to Distribute.
Winston was also sentenced to five years NJSP in connection with his guilty plea to Unlawful Possession of a Weapon and three years NJSP in connection with his guilty plea to Resisting Arrest.
All charges are in connection with illegal activity that occurred in Brick Township between February 2021 and March 2021. Winston pled guilty to the charges on April 20, 2022.
An investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force and Stafford Township Police Department, Drug Enforcement Unit between February and March 2021 revealed that Winston was distributing heroin in the Ocean County area.
According to Prosecutor Billhimer, as a result, Detectives executed a court-authorized search warrant at a storage unit in Brick Township - utilized by Winston - on March 10, 2021.
Detectives located Winston at the subject storage facility and attempted to detain him pending execution of the search warrant.
Prosecutor Billhimer stated that Winston became combative, and forcefully resisted efforts to detain him; it ultimately took the combined efforts of three detectives to take Winston into custody.
Detectives subsequently seized approximately 3000 individual doses of heroin, 200 grams of eutylone, as well as various quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.
Detectives also discovered and seized two handguns and an extended capacity magazine. Winston has been lodged in the Ocean County Jail since being taken into custody on March 10, 2021.