Jersey Journal
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WEST NEW YORK — A fire department dispatcher has been suspended without pay after being charged with possession of more than an ounce of cocaine, officials confirmed yesterday.
Antonio Delgado, 25, faces seven charges related to possession and dealing drugs, police reports said.
The West New York Police Department’s narcotics unit arrested Delgado, a civilian employee with the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, on a search warrant Thursday at 7:37 p.m. at his home on Tyler Place near 61st Street, police said.
Also arrested at his home was Shanelle Clark, 23. She was charged with marijuana possession and paraphernalia.
Police did not provide further details of the arrests, but said they were part of a monthlong surveillance operation and drug-related investigations. Jeff Welz, co-director of the NHRFR, said the department responded to Delgado’s arrest by suspending him Thursday.
“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” said Jeff Welz, co-director of the NHRFR. “But based on the information we have received, and in the interest of public safety, we have suspended him without pay until we have heard the outcome of the criminal investigation.”
The charges against Delgado include possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, and within 500 feet of a public housing complex and library; possession of more than an ounce of cocaine and less than 50 grams of marijuana, police said.