N.J. man convicted for drug delivery in Pike County

MILFORD — John Pazereckis Jr., 32, was convicted of the crime of delivery of a controlled substance in the Pike County Court of Common Pleas, Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin announced last week.
The conviction came after a one-day trial in front a jury of seven men and five women in March. The deliberation for the jury lasted about an hour.
The charges were the result of an incident occurring at 1025 Pennsylvania Ave. in Westfall Township on Aug. 31, 2015. At that time, detectives from the Pike County District Attorney’s Office executed an undercover drug sting. Pazereckis and a co-defendant traveled from New Jersey to the location to sell heroin to a county detective posing as a drug user. During the transaction, $390 was exchanged in return for a brick of heroin, which contains 50 individual bags of heroin.
During the trial, the undercover detective testified that during the transaction, Pazereckis collected the money and his co-defendant gave the heroin to the undercover detective. The detective also testified that immediately after transaction, Pazereckis said to the detective that she better not get caught with the heroin because of the penalties in Pennsylvania, and that "the next time we do this, we shouldn’t do it in Pennsylvania."
Almost immediately after the transaction was complete, Pazereckis and his co-defendant were arrested by other law enforcement officers who were surveilling the transaction. Pazereckis has been in custody since the time of the arrest on $150,000 bail. He was convicted for his role as an accomplice to the transaction.
First Assistant District Attorney Bruce DeSarro, who prosecuted the case, made a motion to revoke Pazereckis’ bail after the trial. In making the request, DeSarro noted that just last year, Pazereckis had been convicted of the possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance in New Jersey, where he was given a sentence of four years of probation. At that time, Pazereckis was charged with being in possession of 309 bags of heroin. Judge Gregory Chelak granted DeSarro’s request and revoked Pazereckis' bail pending his sentencing, which Chelak set for May 26, 2016.
Tonkin stated that he believes that convictions like this will continue to make drug dealers think twice about conducting their trade in Pike County. Tonkin also said that Pazereckis’ new offense, which occurred just months after having been convicted for a similar crime in New Jersey, shows the importance of prison sentences for drug dealers, in particular, those who sell heroin.