POLICE REARREST DRUG SUSPECT, ACCUSE HIM OF PACKING COCAINE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, November 24, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

A man who was freed on bail after his arrest on drug charges in Little Ferry last week has been rearrested on a more serious charge of operating a drug facility.

Agents of the Bergen County Narcotics Task Force said they were afraid that the suspect, a Dominican national, would leave the country.

Leonidas A. Paula, 21, of the North Village apartments was being held in the Bergen County Jail on Friday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Paula was arrested Nov. 16 on cocaine distribution charges and was freed Monday on $25,000 bail.
Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Friday that investigators had determined Paula “was more involved in drug activity than we had originally thought. ” He said they made the discovery while looking into his assets, and rearrested him Wednesday.

“We asked that he give up his passport and we raised the bail because we were afraid he might leave the country,” Fahy said.

Paula could face 20 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000 on the new charge, Fahy said.
Paula ran a lucrative and sophisticated drug-production depot out of his apartment, Little Ferry Police Chief Donald Fleming said Friday.

“He was a manufacturer. He got his cocaine pure. He would cut it, add the mixture to it, and package it in 1-gram packets and sell it, like candy bars,” Fleming said. “He worked six days a week, eight to 10 hours a day. At $70 per gram, if he made 10 deals a day, he made $700 to $1,000 a day, easy. That’s a minimum.”

Fleming said Paula had clients from Bergen and Hudson counties and New York City. He handed out calling cards to clients that listed a fictitious store, “Junior’s Apparel for Men and Women,” at the Paramus Park mall, Fleming said. An anonymous tip led borough police and county narcotics agents on a three-month investigation that ended with the Nov. 16 arrests of Paula and three alleged drug buyers.

Police said they found 15 ounces of cocaine, with a street value of about $20,000, in Paula’s apartment.

ID: 17324412 | Copyright © 1990, The Record (New Jersey)