| TRENTON – Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that a Cherry Hill man was sentenced to state prison today for supplying PCP to a drug network in Camden with ties to the Bloods street gang that was distributing large quantities of heroin, cocaine and PCP in Camden.
Lovell Venable, 35, of Cherry Hill, was sentenced to 13 years in state prison, including 11 years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Samuel D. Natal in Camden County. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 5 to a charge of first-degree racketeering, admitting that he supplied PCP to the narcotics network. Deputy Attorney General Jill Mayer took the guilty plea and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
Venable and 13 other defendants, including the leader of the drug network, Kyle Ogletree, 29, of Cherry Hill, a reputed five-star general in the G-Shine Bloods, were named in a Nov. 3, 2011 indictment charging them with first-degree racketeering. Two additional defendants pleaded guilty to accusations. Ogletree pleaded guilty last month to first-degree racketeering and is awaiting sentencing. The criminal network operated multiple open-air drug markets in South Camden.
“PCP is an especially dangerous hallucinogen, as evidenced by the murders last year of two young boys who were killed in Camden at the hands of individuals who had smoked PCP,” said Attorney General Chiesa. “As the PCP supplier for a large drug network, this defendant was a major menace to the community. This sentence will keep him behind bars for many years.”
“Our multi-agency investigation Operation City Wide took down the entire hierarchy of this criminal enterprise, including Venable and the other individuals who were suppliers for the drug network,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We have secured lengthy prison sentences for most of those charged in this case, including the network’s leader, and charges are pending against the remaining defendants.”
Operation City Wide was led by the Division of Criminal Justice, with assistance from the Camden Police Department, Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, State Department of Corrections, Cherry Hill Police Department, Magnolia Police Department, Pennsauken Police Department, Philadelphia Police, New Jersey State Police, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and National Guard.
The investigation of the drug network revealed a well-defined chain of command headed by Kyle Ogletree. “Set managers” were used to insulate Ogletree from the street-level dealers or “trappers.” Ogletree pleaded guilty on Feb. 4 to first-degree racketeering. The state will recommend that he be sentenced to 15 years in prison, including nearly 13 years of parole ineligibility. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5.
The investigation was conducted for the Division of Criminal Justice by Detective Peppi Pichette and Detective Brian Woolston, who were the Case Detectives, and Sgt. Andrea Salvatini, Sgt. James Nelson, Lt. John Torrey, and Deputy Chief Al Buecker, who supervised the case. Deputy Attorney General Mayer is prosecuting the defendants for the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau. #### |
