Prosecutor Announces October Drug Arrests

COURT HOUSE — County Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor announced Monday, March 9 the conclusion of a lengthy narcotics investigation that was conducted between the County Prosecutor’s Office Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Task Force, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as well as the Egg Harbor Township Police Department involving the local execution of federal search warrants and arrest of two county residents.
Federal authorities allege that Joseph Baker, 42, of 394 Corson Lane, Erma; Dennis Nailon, 37, 209 Walsh Ave., Rio Grande, New Jersey; and Laura Reilly, 53, of Egg Harbor Township, were traveling to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to fraudulently purchase large quantifies of prescription pain medication and returning to Cape May County with the purpose to sell these prescription pills.
Baker, Reilly, and Nailon were arrested at the Atlantic City International Airport on October 21, 2008, after returning from a trip to Fort Lauderdale and obtaining prescription medication from Dr. Wilson Williams.
When arrested, Baker and Nailon had in their possession eight bottles of Oxycodone solution, 300 Endocet 650 mg tablets, 550 Roxicodone 30 mg tablets, 350 Diazepam 10 mg tablets, and 300 Methadone 10 mg tablets
Federal search warrants were executed in October 2008 at the Erma and Rio Grande residences resulting in the seizure of ninety-two 92 Methadone tablets and twenty-three 23 Oxycodone tablets. The estimated street value of the prescription medication seized as a result of this investigation is over $100,000.
Members of the Task Force and the DEA executed the search warrants with the assistance of the Middle Township and Lower Township police departments.
The investigation, which continued by the Drug Enforcement Administration after the execution of the search warrants, revealed that these individuals had been traveling to different pain centers in the Fort Lauderdale area approximately every three weeks for the past four years.
Baker, Reilly, and Nailon were subsequently charged in October 2008 with Federal narcotics trafficking charges and were taken into Federal custody. Nailon and Reilly were subsequently released on bail and Baker remains in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons with no bail set.
The investigation into Dr. Williams continued in Florida resulted in his voluntary surrender of his license and potential civil action pending.
Nailon has since pled guilty to Federal Conspiracy, Possession and Distribution of Controlled Dangerous Substances and Reilly pled guilty to an information charging her with Conspiracy to Possess and Distribute Controlled Dangerous Substances, both pending sentencing in Camden before U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez on April 27.
Nailon may be sentenced up to twenty years in Federal prison with a maximum fine no greater than one million dollars. Reilly may be sentenced up to three years in Federal prison.
No trial date has been set for Baker. If convicted, Baker could be incarcerated in Federal prison for thirty years with a fine no greater than one million dollars.