The Ocean City Police Department’s Narcotics Unit recently concluded a 15 month
investigation involving a regional Oxycodone distribution network that reached Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The investigation, which began in April 2007, was initiated by OCPD detectives after learning large quantities of Oxycodone pills were being distributed in the Ocean City area. Ocean City Police detectives eventually enlisted the help of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), after learning the investigation reached far beyond Ocean City’s jurisdiction.
Throughout the investigation, an Ocean City Police Department undercover detective was able to make 14 individual hand-to-hand purchases for a total of more than 600 Oxycodone pills. In all, five men were charged and more than $20,000 in Oxycodone pills were seized. The main target of the investigation, Joseph Bimonte, 45, of Long Branch, NJ, sold large amounts of Oxycodone to an undercover OCPD detective on nine separate occasions between July 19, 2007 and April 26, 2008. In addition, Bimonte has been linked to four supplementary pharmaceutical drug diversion cases in the Ocean City area.
On August 29, 2008, the Federal Grand Jury for the District of Maryland handed down a twelve count criminal indictment charging Bimonte with Conspiracy to Distribute and Distribution of Oxycodone. Bimonte was arrested on September 19, 2008 in Newark, NJ, after investigators executing a search and seizure warrant recovered numerous prescription pill bottles for Oxycodone from his home.
According to the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI), Oxycodone is a narcotic analgesic which has a high potential for abuse and is prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain. The diversion and abuse of Oxycodone has become a major public health problem across the United States.
Also facing charges in the state of Maryland due to their involvement in the Ocean City Oxycodone distribution network are:
• Gene Sams, 38, of Ocean City: (Case #2008000579) OCPD Narcotics Detectives made
contact with Gene Landon Sams on two separate occasions. The first occurred on April
16, 2008 and the second on April 23, 2008. Based on specific incidents throughout the
investigation, OCPD undercover detectives were able to implicate Sams’ involvement
in a conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone pills with Joseph Bimonte, Tyler Hays and Brian West.
Sams has been charged with the following:
o Two counts of Distribution of CDS - Oxycodone
o Three counts of Conspiracy to Distribute CDS – Oxycodone
• Brian West, 27, of Salisbury: (Case #2008001044) OCPD Narcotics Detectives made
contact with Brian Matthew West on two separate occasions. The first occurred on
April 16, 2008 and the second on April 23, 2008. During both instances, OCPD
undercover detectives were able to purchase Oxycodone pills from West and implicate
West and Gene Sams in a conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone pills. West has been
charged with the following:
o Two counts of Distribution of CDS - Oxycodone
o Two counts of Conspiracy to Distribute CDS - Oxycodone
o Two counts of Possession of CDS – Oxycodone
• John Tarr, 28, of Fenwick Island, DE: (Case # 2008004546) OCPD Narcotics Detectives
made contact with John Richard Tarr on two separate occasions. The first occurred on
July 18, 2007 and the second on July 5, 2008. During both instances, OCPD undercover
detectives were able to purchase Oxycodone pills. Tarr has been charged with the
following and currently has a warrant for his arrest:
o Two counts of Distribution of CDS - Oxycodone
o Two counts of Possession of CDS – Oxycodone
• Tyler Hays, 22, of Ocean City: (Case #2008005860) OCPD Narcotics Detectives made
contact with Tyler Hays on August 7, 2008. During this instance, OCPD undercover
detectives were able to purchase Oxycodone pills from Hays. Hays has been charged
with the following and currently has a warrant for his arrest:
o Distribution of CDS - Oxycodone
o Possession of CDS - Oxycodone
16 comments:
Thanks OC for reaching beyond your city and helping clean all this up.
R.I.P Beater
lol, i went to school with brian west, dumb a## is all i got to say !
Was the "good" doctor F the reason for the dismantlement of the network.
We got our man so now we can disband.
I think that medical pills are the wave of the future. Crooks know that its much harder to get caught with pills then with weed or coke. Also, dogs I dont believe will alert on pills. If you ride through Wicomico Co or Ocean City and even look henky, they run a dog around your car. Not that im opposed to it, just saying. Great Job OCPD.
They guy with the cigarette looks like he's a good feller
See, see wa ya make me do? You make me poke you dag gone eye out
Pills like that aren't all from here. When they cut the supply from here they will just smuggle them here from Mexico.
Many will just look for heroin now, it's all related
As a former member of OCPD back in the 70s, I would like to congratulate the agency for a great job. As the cigarette ad used to say, "You've come a long way, baby"
I am friends with a doctor that assures me within the next 10 years pain medication will be formulated to only work on people that have pain. The "high" these people are getting from Oxy will be gone.
The troubling part is there is always going to be something out there people are abusing. Its like methamphetamine's, how did the original producer come up with it. They use cold medication to manufacture it. Now you have to go to the pharmacy to get a decongestant. It deters me from taking the medication.
I don't know what the answer is but we the people must come up with a way to deal with these people and jail is not the answer. Drug addicts have chemical imbalances in there brain that jail does not repair. Like someone else said, the addicts these dealers supplied will simply start using heroin. It is the natural progression. Heroin is much cheaper and when you are hooked being perceived as a "heroin addict" is not so bad.
If all else fails people can do like the hillbilly's do and huff gasoline cause they can't afford drugs. Serious, they do, and it's perfectly legal!
Then you have your cleaner inhalents and other aeresol huffing agents.
The OCPD really dropped the ball on this one. Soooo clueless. I've cleaned up but I used to know all these guys and they are small fish. Its unbelievable that after 15 months this is all they came up with, such a bigger picture here that they were too dumb to realize! Joe "Bananas" Bimonte is your biggest bust? Sad.
If the OCPD only realized who was the one who initially started things before Joe "Bannanas" was even around, they would have a huge thing to look at. These guys were nothing but flunkies for a while for the real starter of all the oxys in Ocean City....circa 2006 and 2007
yea i know one of them too hes my brother actually.... you wouldnt know how badly newspapers blow things out of proportion unless your the one with your face in it. things arent always what they seem. there is definitely a couple scum-bags above these comments, but not all of them . dont judge somebody you never met in your life. these guys did nothing to effect your life to the point you have to be happy that there behind bars. greed is a horrible thing, but doesnt make a person horrible. think twice
John Tarr at it again.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2015/05/13/man-arrested-twice-one-day-southeast-gas-station-john-tarr/27276453/
Dumb comment. I'm glad they got caught
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