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Shakri Prince was picked up by Asbury Park police and officers from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Saturday, according to Charles Webster, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

Prince , 20, of Willow Drive in Ocean Township, was one of 31 defendants named in Operation Dead End, a multi-agency police dragnet that honed in on criminal activity on two of the city’s dead end streets. He is facing charges of second degree shoplifting – organized retail theft enterprise, third degree shoplifting, and second degree conspiracy.

Prince is being held at Monmouth County Correctional Institute on $50,000 bail with a cash-only stipulation, Webster said.

Of a total 31 defendants named in the case, 28 were arrested in the Operation Dead End sweep including 16-year veteran Asbury Park police officer Keith German and two juveniles.

With the arrest of Prince on Saturday and Shamere Reid, 20 —who turned himself into police custody on Monday — only one defendant remains at large,  Alvin Durham, 25, of Sharon Avenue in Roselle. Duram is facing charges of second degree unlawful possession of a handgun.

Operation Dead End targeted individuals committing violent street, drug, and gun crimes in the city. The six-month long investigation discovered members of the “Crips” and “Bloods” street gangs regularly conspired to commit several different firearms-related offenses on two dead end streets in Asbury Park, Dewiitt Avenue and Jersey Street in the Washington Village Public Housing Complex.

Authorities allege two of the leaders of the criminal enterprise – James Fair and Altyreek Leonard, both of Asbury Park – conspired with several other members of the criminal enterprise, to distribute heroin, crack cocaine and “molly,” a slang name for the drug ecstasy, in the Asbury Park area.

The other members of the criminal enterprise include: Harry Clayton, 33; Haneef Walker, 21, Ciara Williams, 21, Latoria Butler, 22, Clarence Jackson 3rd, 25, Todd Howard, 22, Latoya Tatum, 28, Jashawn Mack, 26, all of Asbury Park; Shamere Reid, 20, and Imere Meredith 20, both of Neptune; Todd Ewart, 31, and Amanda Howland, 22, both of Neptune City; Deron Anglin, 27, of Newark; and two juveniles.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christoper Gramiccioni announced the results of the police dragnet at a news conference held in Asbury Park Friday.

The investigation into the criminal activities of this criminal enterprise remains active and ongoing, and members of the public with information regarding criminal activity by any of these individuals should contact Detective Keith Finkelstein of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-800-533-7443.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and state law.

[Photo at top: Flanked by police officers from several agencies, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni ammounced the results of Operation Dead End at a news conference held in the prosecutor’s Asbury Park satellite office Friday.]

Click here to access a Sun article that reports the details of “Operation Dead End.” 

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