2 From North Jersey Charged In Candy Drug Ring: Authorities

NORTH JERSEY, NJ — Two people from North Jersey were charged in a large-scale drug network that involved turning candy like Sour Patch into drugs, authorities said.

Ariel Baez, 45, of Lodi and Ryan D. Hult, 39, of Riverdale in Morris County, were among the 24 people charged as a result of Operation On The Ropes, Mommouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said.

The drug ring operated mostly throughout Bergen, Ocean, and Mommouth counties, and parts of New York.

Operation On The Ropes uncovered a scheme to secretly convert Sour Patch and Nerds Rope into illegal THC-infused product, Gramiccioni said. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana.

Operation On The Ropes culminated with the execution of over a dozen search warrants in Monmouth, Ocean, and Bergen counties resulting in the seizure of approximately 21,000 packages of candy infused with suspected THC, 1,100 pounds of suspected marijuana, as well as over 6,000 flavored THC vape cartridges, according to the Mommouth County Prosecutor's Office.

The illegal operation utilized a warehouse on Park Avenue in Manalapan Township and a hangar at Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall Township as production and storage facilities. The approximate 21,000 pieces of candy were manufactured with unknown amounts of THC and totals over 100,000 individual doses, according to the MCPO.

The THC products that were processed were then intermingled with THC products that the network operators illegally trafficked into New Jersey from a supplier in California. The THC products have an estimated street value of nearly $900,000, according to authorities.

"The network operators used regular candy to further their scheme, buying hundreds of boxes of product from wholesalers before transporting it to a processing facility where they would unwrap the individual pieces of candy, lay it out on trays and then spraying the candy with a concentrated formula of THC distillate. Once the THC dried on the candy it was repackaged as an illegal marijuana edibles product for distribution across New Jersey," said Gramiccioni.

Seized during the investigation were 1,200 THC-infused Sour Patch watermelon candy packages labeled, "Stoner Patch" edibles; 6,250 "Baked Burgerz" edibles; 3,111 TCH-infused "Nerd Ropes," individually repackaged in red, pink, yellow and blue wrappers, according to the MCPO.

Also seized were 1,151 Tic Tac-type containers without labels; numerous boxes and trays of Nerd Ropes in various stages of the infusion process; and 6,542 THC vape cartridges in a variety of 16 different flavors.

"The packaging on this THC laced 'candy' is almost indistinguishable from regular drug store candy. Your kids may be getting high right before your eyes, if you are not paying close attention. This illegal operation makes juveniles and anyone who consumes these products susceptible to random levels of drug toxicity," said Monmouth County Chief of Detectives John G. McCabe.

A total of $10,151,711 in assets, $1,483,859 in cash, and 21 high-end exotic vehicles, including cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls Royce, and Mercedes Benz, with an estimated total value of approximately $2,783,445, were also seized as part of the criminal investigation.

For more information about Operation On The Ropes, and the names of the other people arrested click here.

— With reporting by Tom Davis, Patch staff

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com