Breaking Bad: Busts in Glen Rock tell a story of drugs in suburbia
Saturday, September 7, 2013
BY REBECCA D. O’BRIEN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Within two weeks of his June 11 arrest on heroin distribution charges, Tristan Rodas was back home in Glen Rock, drawing the attention of wary residents, neighbors and local police.
Rodas, a muscular, olive-skinned 18-year-old, was often spotted on summer nights in a borough park, police said. Complaints and tips came in to headquarters, along with reports of suspicious activity around Rodas’ Glen Avenue home. Police said they observed Rodas — who was out on bail, awaiting arraignment on the charges stemming from his June arrest — taking taxis to and from Paterson multiple times a day.
On Tuesday, Rodas was arrested on charges that he sold heroin to undercover detectives on multiple occasions. He also has been charged with resisting arrest.
Rodas was being held at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Rodas’ two arrests, and the events of the summer that separated them, illustrate the power of aggressive local policing and community vigilance in the evolving, controversial war on drugs in the suburbs.