Trenton raid uncovers heroin mill inside city salon
TRENTON » Police shut down a heroin mill being run out of a city salon last week, concluding a seven-month investigation.
Prosecutors say Ruben Stouth, 53, was the target of the investigation, and that cops arrested him last Thursday night after seeing him engaged in drug transactions on Spring Street.
Police then raided the Dominican Salon and Barber Shop at 215 Spring Street and uncovered a heroin production and packaging facility. Cops seized approximately 40 bricks of heroin, five grams of raw heroin, a loaded .38 special revolver, $1,239 in cash, 176 tramadol pills, drug ledgers and various items used for packaging heroin, including stamps, stamp pads, boxes of empty glassine bags, rubber bands and tape.
When cops searched Stouth’s New York Avenue residence, they found a loaded Colt .45 handgun and a metal drug press. Police also found two bundles of heroin in the trunk of Stouth’s BMW. Stouth had nine and a half OxyContin pills in his pocket when detectives apprehended him, according to prosecutors who say police also seized $883 in cash Stouth had on him at the time of his arrest.
Robert Alicea, 48, an occupant of the residence attached to the barber shop, was also arrested in connection with the investigation. He was charged with numerous drug offenses and released pending future court proceedings.
Stouth, 53, is charged with numerous narcotic and weapons offenses. Prosecutors have filed a motion to have him detained pending trial.
Officials say the seized drugs have an approximate street value of $11,360.