Ocean County, NJ, man gets 12+ years in prison for cocaine, gun

News snapshot

• In 2020, a Toms River man was found with cocaine and a gun
• He had someone falsely claim the drugs and weapon were theirs
• Thursday, he was sentenced to over 12 years in prison

Masta Redding of Toms River sentenced

An Ocean County man has been sentenced to over a dozen years behind bars on cocaine and gun-related charges.

38-year-old Masta Redding of Toms River previously pleaded guilty in Camden federal court to an indictment charging him with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

On Thursday, he was sentenced to 151 months, or about 12 ½ years, in prison.

Federal authorities say that on March 5th, 2020, Redding "possessed cocaine on his person and in his residence which he intended to distribute."

Redding, a previously convicted felon, also possessed a Jimenez Arms pistol loaded with six rounds of ammunition.

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He then admitted that sometime after he was arrested, he paid another individual for, and then provided to the government, an affidavit in which the other person falsely claimed ownership of the cocaine and gun that were in his house.

Once out of prison, Redding will be under three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to forfeit the gun.

U.S. Attorney John Giordano thanked agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office; the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office; the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office; and the Asbury Park Police Department for their work on this case.