TRENTON, N.J. – A man from Raleigh, North Carolina with connections to Trenton, Dennis Cheston Jr., also known as “Beans,” was sentenced to 151 months in prison for distributing heroin and unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced the sentencing on Monday.
Cheston, 42, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of an indictment that charged him with distributing heroin and unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The sentence was imposed in the Trenton federal court by U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner.
From October 2017 to October 2018, law enforcement conducted a large narcotics conspiracy investigation in Trenton and surrounding areas. Conspirators Jakir Taylor, Jerome Roberts, and David Antonio obtained regular supplies of hundreds of bricks of heroin for redistribution in Trenton and elsewhere.
Cheston traveled from North Carolina to Trenton on multiple occasions to acquire heroin from Taylor for redistribution. Cheston also provided Taylor with multiple firearms in exchange for heroin. After arriving in Trenton on Sept. 8, 2018, law enforcement officers arrested Cheston as he exited the Trenton Transit Center and found a 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson handgun in his backpack.
Judge Castner also sentenced Cheston to three years of supervised release following his prison term. Both Taylor and Antonio have pleaded guilty, and Roberts was previously convicted at trial.