NEWARK, N.J. – A Jersey City man was convicted today on a charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Jamil King, 32, of Jersey City, was convicted after a two-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court. The jury deliberated two hours before returning the guilty verdict.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:
King is a high-ranking member of the Jersey City neighborhood street gang known as Parkside. Law enforcement officials obtained a search warrant for King’s residence, and during the evening of July 8, 2022, officers executed that warrant. When the police arrived, King fled, but law enforcement recovered approximately 50 grams of cocaine from a pair of sweatpants inside the apartment. Those sweatpants contained the defendant’s DNA and matched the sweatshirt that the defendant was wearing that night.
The count on which King was convicted is punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 23, 2024.
U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger credited the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Director James Shea, for the investigation leading to the conviction. He also thanked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Ross A. Marchetti.
This investigation was conducted as part of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative (VCI). The VCI was formed in 2018 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Jersey City Police Department, for the sole purpose of combatting violent crime in and around Jersey City. As part of this partnership, federal, state, county, and city agencies collaborate to strategize and prioritize the prosecution of violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community. The VCI is composed of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, the U.S. Marshals, the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, the Jersey City Police Department, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, the Hudson County Jail, and the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace, Chief of the Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Stern of the Office’s General Crimes Unit in Newark.
