Stafford Township, NJ - On Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 at approximately 8:00 PM, the Stafford Township Police Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) conducted a motor vehicle stop in the area of Route 9 and Sugarhill Road on 22-year-old Crystian Cerrato-Mejia (Main Street in Barnegat, NJ), and 22-year-old Alejandra Oyuela (Main Street in Barnegat, NJ). During the course of the motor vehicle stop, Detective Jackman Bush developed reasonable suspicion that Cerrato-Mejia and Oyuela were possessing a controlled dangerous substance inside the vehicle. As a result, Detective Zach Wiatrowski deployed his narcotic K-9 partner, Venus, to conduct an exterior sniff of the vehicle. As a result, K-9 Venus gave a positive indication for the presence of narcotics odor coming from within the vehicle. The vehicle was seized pending the application of a court authorized search warrant. Cerrato-Mejia and Oyuela were both released from the scene.
On Thursday, November 13th, 2025, the DEU applied for and was granted a court authorized search warrant for the vehicle. The DEU executed the court authorized search warrant and recovered a quantity of suspected cocaine.
Cerrato-Mejia and Oyuela were charged with 2C:35-10A(1) possession of cocaine (3rd degree crime) and 2C:33-2.1 wandering to obtain a controlled dangerous substance (disorderly persons offense). After being processed at Stafford Township Police Department, Cerrato-Mejia and Oyuela were issued on a complaint summons and released with a future court appearance scheduled at Ocean County Superior Court.
As a reminder, the Stafford Township Police Department does not release arrest photos of defendants. All individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.