Newark – Essex County sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics detectives executed a search warrant last night and recovered nearly $50,000 in illegal drugs.

The investigation, prompted by neighborhood complaints of drug trafficking in the area of South 18 Street and 14 Avenue, began to unfold when the sheriff’s officers executed a prior search warrant at dawn on Wednesday at the home of Tajion Simmons, 23, at 447 South 18th Street.

“Upon entering the home of Mr. Simmons our officers found him in his underwear and attempting to flush glassine envelopes down the toilet,” Sheriff Armando Fontoura said.  “The ensuing search of his apartment yielded 40 decks of heroin marked ‘Face Down Ass Up’ in blue ink.

The sheriff’s detectives also seized Simmons’s car keys and called in K-9 ‘Kiera’ to conduct an olfactory search of his 2004 Ford Taurus.  The canine indicated a positive reaction to narcotics in the suspect vehicle and the car was impounded.

“We received a second search warrant for the Taurus and was found to contain 220 grams of ‘crack’ cocaine, an additional 1,000 decks of heroin, 80 grams of marijuana, and two large milk crates filled with digital scales, razors, and other drug packaging and processing paraphernalia,” Sheriff Fontoura noted.

On his original arrest, Simmons was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute and possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Full Gospel Academy.  Simmons was then released with a date of October 29th for his arraignment in Central Judicial Processing court.

Multiple other counts of possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics with intent to distribute have been filed against Simmons.