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Released Ridgefield Defendant Charged With Heroin, Fentanyl

GLEN ROCK, N.J. -- Glen Rock police arrested an East Bergen trio -- one of them an ex-con who's been caught and released several times since last fall -- during a traffic stop that they said turned up 31 bags of heroin, seven patches of fentanyl and four bags of cocaine.

James P. Desotto, Rocci L. Marttine

James P. Desotto, Rocci L. Marttine

Photo Credit: MUGSHOTS: Courtesy Palisades Park PD, Bergen County Prosecutor's Office

Officer John Tarantino pulled the car over on northbound Route 208 just after 4:30 a.m. Saturday, Police Chief Dean Ackermann said.

Ackerman said Tarantino ended up arresting Danielle M. Monaco, 38, of Ridgefield for possession of the fentanyl.

Monaco also was charged with possession of the other drugs and several residue-stained pipes along with Rocci L. Marttine, 29, also of Ridgefield, and James P. Desotto, 32, of Palisades Park.

Monaco and Marttine were released pending July 7 appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.

Desotto, meanwhile, was taken to the Bergen County Jail pending a detention hearing.

Desotto has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for aggravated assault with a baseball bat (2004) and robbery (2003).

In 2013, he ducked out of court before a judge could order mandatory drug testing -- then was arrested by Palisades Park police outside a Secaucus Home Depot and charged with snatching a woman's purse on a borough street.

His father that same week reported that Desotto came to his house, demanded money and threatened to shoot him, police told Daily Voice at the time.

Palisades Park police arrested him yet again this past April on burglary charges. A judge ordered him released from the Bergen County Jail five days later.

Desotto was freed only a couple of weeks when Lodi police arrested him on charges of assaulting and robbing someone. A judge ordered his released less than a week later, records show.

Desotto has other outstanding charges from Palisades Park for other alleged offenses -- among them, burglary, theft and harassment from last November and simple assault and obstruction from July.

Marttine has a history, as well: He was arrested last July by Bergen County prosecutor's detectives and Ridgefield police who said that he and his father were selling drugs from their home.

Both were released without bail pending a court date.

Marttine was arrested again in Paterson this past March by police who said they caught him and another man carrying 37 folds of heroin and bag of crack. A judge released him, again, without bail.

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