By MICHELLE SAHN • STAFF WRITER • August 16, 2010

http://www.app.com/article/20100816/NEWS/100816063/Asbury-Park-man-pleads-guilty-to-drug-money-laundering-charges

FREEHOLD — A 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to drug and money-laundering charges today, admitting the money he made from selling cocaine was used to pay rent and other expenses on two Asbury Park apartments — at a landmark high-rise near the beach and at a luxury complex downtown.

Damion Schenck pleaded guilty to first-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and second-degree money laundering.

As part of the plea agreement, the state will dismiss the remaining charges filed in the indictment and recommend a 20-year prison term, with a stipulation that Schenck serve at least 8 years before he can become eligible for parole, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Matthews said in court.

Defense attorney Steven Nelson has said he intends to argue for a lesser term when Schenck is sentenced on Sept. 24 in the Freehold courtroom of state Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia.

When detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office's Organized Criminal Enterprises Unit and the Asbury Park Police Department's Street Crimes Unit arrested Schenck in August 2009, authorities said they found more than $1 million worth of cocaine and heroin in his homes, along with four guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle.

Police confiscated more than 15 pounds of cocaine, four pounds of heroin and a pound of marijuana during that investigation, authorities said last year. They also seized about $14,000, four fur coats, three vehicles and jewelry, which authorities said were the proceeds of illegal activity.

In previous Asbury Park Press stories, law enforcement identified Schenck as a member of the Five Percenters street gang, although last year, authorities declined to comment about it and there was no mention of gangs in court today.

In court, Schenck acknowledged that the cocaine found in his apartments on Grand Avenue and Deal Lake Drive belonged to him, and that he planned to sell the drug for profit.

FREEHOLD — A 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to drug and money-laundering charges today, admitting the money he made from selling cocaine was used to pay rent and other expenses on two Asbury Park apartments — at a landmark high-rise near the beach and at a luxury complex downtown.

Damion Schenck pleaded guilty to first-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and second-degree money laundering.

As part of the plea agreement, the state will dismiss the remaining charges filed in the indictment and recommend a 20-year prison term, with a stipulation that Schenck serve at least 8 years before he can become eligible for parole, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Matthews said in court.

Defense attorney Steven Nelson has said he intends to argue for a lesser term when Schenck is sentenced on Sept. 24 in the Freehold courtroom of state Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia.

When detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office's Organized Criminal Enterprises Unit and the Asbury Park Police Department's Street Crimes Unit arrested Schenck in August 2009, authorities said they found more than $1 million worth of cocaine and heroin in his homes, along with four guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle.

Police confiscated more than 15 pounds of cocaine, four pounds of heroin and a pound of marijuana during that investigation, authorities said last year. They also seized about $14,000, four fur coats, three vehicles and jewelry, which authorities said were the proceeds of illegal activity.

In previous Asbury Park Press stories, law enforcement identified Schenck as a member of the Five Percenters street gang, although last year, authorities declined to comment about it and there was no mention of gangs in court today.

In court, Schenck acknowledged that the cocaine found in his apartments on Grand Avenue and Deal Lake Drive belonged to him, and that he planned to sell the drug for profit.

FREEHOLD — A 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to drug and money-laundering charges today, admitting the money he made from selling cocaine was used to pay rent and other expenses on two Asbury Park apartments — at a landmark high-rise near the beach and at a luxury complex downtown.

Damion Schenck pleaded guilty to first-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and second-degree money laundering.

As part of the plea agreement, the state will dismiss the remaining charges filed in the indictment and recommend a 20-year prison term, with a stipulation that Schenck serve at least 8 years before he can become eligible for parole, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Matthews said in court.

Defense attorney Steven Nelson has said he intends to argue for a lesser term when Schenck is sentenced on Sept. 24 in the Freehold courtroom of state Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia.

When detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office's Organized Criminal Enterprises Unit and the Asbury Park Police Department's Street Crimes Unit arrested Schenck in August 2009, authorities said they found more than $1 million worth of cocaine and heroin in his homes, along with four guns, including an AR-15 assault rifle.

Police confiscated more than 15 pounds of cocaine, four pounds of heroin and a pound of marijuana during that investigation, authorities said last year. They also seized about $14,000, four fur coats, three vehicles and jewelry, which authorities said were the proceeds of illegal activity.

In previous Asbury Park Press stories, law enforcement identified Schenck as a member of the Five Percenters street gang, although last year, authorities declined to comment about it and there was no mention of gangs in court today.

In court, Schenck acknowledged that the cocaine found in his apartments on Grand Avenue and Deal Lake Drive belonged to him, and that he planned to sell the drug for profit.

He also said he had been renting those apartments from Oct. 21, 2004, until the raid in August of last year, and he paid the rent and security deposits on those residences with money he made by distributing cocaine. During that five-year period, the cost amounted to more than $75,000, he said in response to questions from his attorney.

In court today, Schenck told the judge his address is now in Red Bank.

Schenck initially was taken into custody when police stopped the Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving, and they determined he was in possession of cocaine, authorities said.

At his apartment at 400 Deal Lake Drive, police found cocaine, heroin, marijuana, the assault rifle, two handguns and ammunition, authorities have said.

That Deal Lake Drive building, commonly called the Santander, is a complex of apartments and condominiums that was built in 1929. It is blocks from the beach.

Police also searched a unit at 501 Grand Ave., a former JCP&L office building converted to the Asbury Grand, a six-story, 25-unit luxury condominium complex with commercial property on the ground floor.

At that downtown unit — which authorities say was under Schenck's control — police found more cocaine and heroin, another handgun and hollow-point bullets, authorities said last year.

Schenck previously served time in state prison, from 1998 to 2002, on a drug charge, according to state Department of Corrections records.

He now is being held at the Monmouth County jail, Freehold Township, in lieu of bail set at $1.29 million.