TOMS RIVER — A man who once lived in Brick Township has been sentenced to 32 years in state prison after being convicted in a major drug trafficking case involving marijuana, hashish, a firearm and more than $400,000 in illegal proceeds, authorities said.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Jason Bacon, 43, was sentenced April 17 by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan. The sentence includes 16 years for maintaining a controlled dangerous substance facility, eight years for possessing a firearm during a drug offense and eight years for financial facilitation. Those terms will be served one after another, resulting in a total sentence of 32 years. Bacon must serve 12 years before becoming eligible for parole.
He also received concurrent prison terms on additional convictions for marijuana and hashish possession, possession with intent to distribute both substances, and failing to file and pay income taxes.
Prosecutors said the case began in December 2017 when police in Clayton, Gloucester County, uncovered what they described as a large greenhouse behind a vacant home on Delsea Drive. Investigators found unusually high utility usage and freight shipments tied to marijuana cultivation equipment. Property records showed the home belonged to Bacon, who also had a residence in Brick Township.
Authorities executed seacrch warrants at the Clayton and Brick properties on April 26, 2018. According to prosecutors, detectives recovered more than 25 pounds of marijuana, over five pounds of hashish and hashish-related products, marijuana plants, growing equipment and a loaded .25-caliber handgun.
Bacon was arrested at the Brick residence and taken to the Ocean County Jail. Although he was initially held, he was later released in April 2019 under New Jersey’s bail reform law.
Investigators later reviewed Bacon’s banking records and found that he had deposited more than $400,000 in profits from illegal drug sales between 2013 and 2018, prosecutors said. Authorities also alleged he did not pay taxes on that income.
Bacon’s trial began Jan. 14, 2025, but he did not appear in court. The trial proceeded without him, and a jury convicted him on all counts Jan. 30, 2025.
He remained a fugitive until Jan. 15, 2026, when members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force arrested him in Mexico. He was extradited to New Jersey on Feb. 4 and has been held in the Ocean County Jail since then.
Billhimer credited Senior Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Burke, along with multiple local, county, state and federal agencies, for their work on the investigation and prosecution.
