Two New Jersey Men Sentenced for Roles in Trafficking Heroin and Cocaine in Bayshore

Daniel McHugh, 51, of Sayreville, New Jersey, was sentenced to 90 months in prison. McHugh previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti via videoconference to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. McHugh also admitted conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine and possessing with intent to distribute a quantity of crack cocaine.

Brian Hall, 49, of Freehold, New Jersey, was sentenced today to eight months of home confinement and three years of probation. He previously pleaded guilty before Judge Martinotti to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin. Judge Martinotti imposed both sentences today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From May 2017 to November 2018, McHugh, Hall, and others engaged in a narcotics conspiracy that operated in the Raritan Bayshore region of Middlesex and northern Monmouth counties.

Through the interception of telephone calls and text messages pursuant to court-authorized wiretap orders, controlled purchases of heroin and cocaine, the use of confidential sources of information, and other investigative techniques, law enforcement learned that McHugh regularly obtained heroin and cocaine for further distribution from co-defendant Guy Jackson. Some of the heroin distributed by the conspiracy contained fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid. When McHugh was arrested, law enforcement officers recovered quantities of heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine intended for further distribution, as well as $3,800 in cash that McHugh agreed to forfeit.

In addition to the prison terms, Judge Martinotti sentenced McHugh to four years of supervised release and ordered forfeiture of $3,800.

Today’s sentencings are part of a coordinated takedown in November 2018 of 15 defendants charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine. Thirteen defendants have pleaded guilty. Supplier Gregory Gillens was sentenced on Sept. 8, 2020, to 10 years in prison for his role in the conspiracy. Lead defendant Guy Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced on June 22, 2021. Defendant Deberal Rogers has been indicted; the charges and allegations contained in the indictment against him are merely accusations, and the he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The charges against one defendant have been dismissed.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the FBI, Newark Division, Red Bank Resident Agency, Jersey Shore Gang and Criminal Organization Task Force (including representatives from the Bradley Beach Police Department, Brick Police Department, Howell Police Department, Marlboro Police Department, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, Toms River Police Department, and Union Beach Police Department) under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr.; special agents of the FBI, Philadelphia Division, Scranton Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Driscoll; the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan; the Matawan Police Department, under the direction of Chief Thomas J. Falco Jr.; the Holmdel Police Department, under the direction of Chief John Mioduszewski; the Highlands Police Department, under the direction of Chief Robert Burton; the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni; the Old Bridge Police Department, under the direction of Chief William A. Volkert; the Keansburg Police Department, under the direction of Chief Robert B. Sheehan; the Hazlet Police Department, under the direction of Chief Ted A. Wittke; and the Aberdeen Police Department, under the direction of Chief Alan Geyer, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencings. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa T. Wiygul of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.