On June 5, 2023, Marquis Belnavis, a 29-year-old resident of East Orange, entered a guilty plea before the Honorable Kimarie Rahill, J.S.C., in connection with multiple charges stemming from incidents in Toms River.
Belnavis pled guilty to Possession of Heroin with Intent to Distribute and Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer, which occurred on July 9, 2021. Additionally, he pled guilty to Distribution of Cocaine in relation to an incident on November 10, 2021, and a series of incidents between July 28, 2022, and August 31, 2022, in Ocean Gate and Stafford Township.
The State will seek specific sentences for each charge during Belnavis’s sentencing on July 28, 2023, with all sentences to run concurrently.
The events leading to Belnavis’s charges unfolded on July 9, 2021, when officers from the Toms River Township Police Department Special Enforcement Team conducted surveillance related to narcotics. During their operation, they observed transactions indicating that Belnavis had distributed narcotics to another individual.
Subsequently, detectives conducted a motor vehicle stop of a 2018 Nissan Altima in which Belnavis was a passenger. A search revealed Belnavis’s possession of a quantity of heroin. As officers were in the process of apprehending him, Belnavis attempted to flee and bit one of the officers on the hand. He was eventually taken into custody and transferred to the Ocean County Jail but was later released due to New Jersey’s Bail Reform.
Another incident occurred on November 10, 2021, when the Toms River Police Department Special Enforcement Team conducted surveillance on a residence. Belnavis was observed frequenting the location, and subsequent investigations determined that he had distributed cocaine to one of the occupants. Belnavis was arrested and sent to the Ocean County Jail but was subsequently released as a result of New Jersey’s Bail Reform.
Further investigations conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Stafford Township Police Department Drug Enforcement Unit, Ocean Gate Police Department, and Barnegat Township Police Department Crime Reduction Unit revealed Belnavis’s involvement in the distribution of cocaine in Stafford Township and Ocean Gate between July 28, 2022, and August 31, 2022. On September 2, 2022, Belnavis was taken into custody at a residence in Ocean Gate and has remained in the Ocean County Jail since then.