A former township police officer has been charged with possession of cocaine, heroin and marijuana and endangering the welfare of a child.
Joseph Morano, 41, and Jennifer Phalon, 34, both of the same Seaspray Road address, were arrested after a motor vehicle stop of a 1994 Ford Explorer on Route 72 in Stafford about 11:20 p.m. Friday, said Capt. Robert Urie of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Special Operations Group.
Morano is the son of Township Committeeman Len Morano.
The couple was riding in Morano's Ford Explorer with a 4-year-old child inside when it was stopped by a member of the Special Operations Group and the Stafford Township Police Department.
The Prosecutor's Office, Stafford police and members of the Ocean County Regional SWAT executed a search warrant at the couple's Seaspray Road home and found five bags of heroin and marijuana in the home, Urie said.
The couple was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, he said.
Bail was set at $50,000 with no 10 percent option for both, set by Ocean County Superior Court Judge James DenUyl.
Morano and Phalon were lodged in the Ocean County Jail and released on Saturday.
Morano has a history of substance abuse issues dating back to 2003, when he was suspended for 30 days on matters connected to alcohol abuse while he was a Barnegat police officer. Subsequent arrests and indictments over prescription drug matters led to his resignation as a police officer in 2005.
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