Man Framed For Gun, Drug Possession In Morris County: Police

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ - A 47-year-old Wharton man is facing charges after planting a gun and drugs in someone's car and calling it in to authorities, according to the Hanover Township Police Department.

According to officials, the Hanover Township Police Department received an anonymous phone call reporting he saw a man in the parking lot of the Shop Rite on East Hanover Avenue placing the handgun under the front seat of his vehicle. The caller also reported that he observed illegal narcotics around the man's car, police said.

Hanover officers found the suspect vehicle and a quantity of suspected cocaine near the vehicle and when the driver emerged from the store Hanover officers obtained written consent to search his car, police said.

During the search, officers located a significant amount of additional powder and crack cocaine, a significant amount of heroin, marijuana and a loaded 9mm handgun, police said.

The driver was promptly placed under arrest and taken to the police station. Police said the man in custody was insistent that the drugs and gun were not his and someone else must be responsible. After an interview with the Hanover Township Detective Bureau, the man put in the Morris County Jail on charges relating to the possession of the handgun and dangerous drugs, police said.

Hanover Sergeant John Schauder and Det. Kerri Griffin of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, conducted an investigation and followed up by interviewing additional people and reviewing video from both Shop Rite and Chase Bank.

The video showed that someone else did, in fact, plant the handgun and dangerous drugs in the car, police said. Further investigation revealed that the man who planted it was driving a rental vehicle and a review of the rental records led to the arrest of Henry Patterson, police said.

Patterson was lodged in the Morris County Correctional Facility after being charged with filing a false police report, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of cocaine, possession of heroin, and tampering with or fabricating evidence, police said.

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