Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Convicted Felon Admits Drug Offenses, and Possessing Three Firearms with Extended Magazines
NEWARK, N.J. –An Essex County, New Jersey, man today admitted possessing quantities of heroin and cocaine he intended to distribute, and possessing several firearms, including an AM-15 rifle, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Cedric Lewis, 31, of Bloomfield, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti to a superseding information charging him with two counts of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and two counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Sept. 20, 2020 investigators learned that Lewis was in a car in the Newark/Elizabeth area while he possessed a quantity of heroin and cocaine he intended to sell, as well as an AM-15 rifle with a high-capacity magazine that contained 30 rounds of .300 caliber ammunition. Law enforcement officers subsequently lawfully searched Lewis’s apartment recovered a 9 millimeter pistol with an extended magazine; a .40 caliber pistol with an extended magazine; drug paraphernalia and a scale; $800 in cash, and heroin and cocaine that Lewis intended to sell.
The narcotics offenses each carry a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison, and a fine of $1 million. The counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition each carry a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 6, 2022.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited members of the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura; special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Matthews; deputy marshals with the U.S. Marshals Service in the District of New Jersey, under the supervision of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos Jr.; and deputy marshals with the U.S. Marshals Service in the Northern District of Georgia, under the supervision of U.S. Marshal Michael S. Yeager, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the Bloomfield Police Department for its assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark.
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