WALL TOWNSHIP — Two Ocean County men are facing multiple weapons charges after police said a traffic stop on Interstate 195 led officers to a loaded AR-15-style privately manufactured firearm.
A Wall Township police officer stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on August 3 for an alleged traffic violation, authorities said.
During the investigation, police learned that passenger Jarrone Perry, 47, of Jackson, had an active warrant from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. He was arrested without incident.
Police said a Brick Township Police Department K-9 was then brought to the scene and alerted officers during a sniff around the vehicle.
A search that followed uncovered a loaded AR-15-style firearm that authorities described as a “ghost gun,” meaning it was privately manufactured and did not have a serial number.
Perry and the driver, Christopher Ojeda Jr., 18, of Toms River, were each charged with possession of an unserialized firearm, possession of hollow-point ammunition, possession of an assault firearm, unlawful possession of a rifle and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm.
Perry also faces an additional charge of certain persons not to possess weapons.
Both men were processed under New Jersey’s Criminal Justice Reform Act and taken to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution.
The charges are accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
