By: Richard L. Smith
A local woman will serve time in state prison following a narcotics investigation that uncovered drugs, cash, and a firearm at multiple locations in Atlantic County.
According to information sent by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, 28-year-old Medina Hayes, of Galloway Township, was sentenced on Thursday, April 23, 2026, to an aggregate term of five years in New Jersey State Prison.
The sentence includes a one-year period of parole ineligibility and the forfeiture of $10,003.
Authorities said Hayes previously pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Donna Taylor to second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and third-degree possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance.
The charges stem from a May 22, 2025 investigation, when law enforcement executed search warrants at two residences and a vehicle connected to Hayes and co-defendant Manirah Parrish-Bond.
At a residence on Ravens Nest Drive in Galloway Township, where Hayes was taken into custody, investigators recovered more than $7,000 in cash in small denominations. An additional $2,000 was seized from a vehicle Hayes had been operating during the raid investigation.
Officials also executed a search warrant at a second location on Atlantic Avenue in Pleasantville, where Parrish-Bond was arrested.
Inside that residence, detectives located crack cocaine, approximately 620 folds of heroin/fentanyl, hundreds of small containers commonly used to package narcotics, a digital scale with suspected drug residue, a semi-automatic handgun, ammunition, and keys linked to the vehicle associated with Hayes.
The investigation remains part of ongoing efforts by authorities to combat illegal drug distribution in Atlantic County.