‘Righteous’ Burlington County, NJ, man gets massive prison sentence for heroin

A Burlington County man is headed to prison for a couple of decades for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed more than one kilo of heroin in and around Trenton.

Jerome “Righteous” Roberts Sentenced

53-year-old Jerome “Righteous” Roberts was convicted in October 2021 following a three-week trial. Late last week, he was sentenced to 245 months, or just over 20 years in prison.

According to federal authorities, from October 2017 to October 2018, Roberts and others engaged in a large narcotics conspiracy that operated along several streets in Trenton which made money from distributing heroin and other controlled substances.

Roberts and his conspirator Jakir Taylor obtained regular supplies of hundreds of 'bricks' of heroin from conspirator David Antonio, whom they referred to as 'Papi.' Communications intercepted over court-authorized wiretaps showed that Taylor and Roberts agreed to obtain from Antonio what Roberts referred to as the 'motherlode,' a supply of as many as 1,500 bricks – approximately 1.5 kilograms of heroin – in a single delivery. Taylor said that he intended to 'flood the streets' of Trenton with this large supply. And Antonio said that 'as long . . . as I keep it flowing, we never gonna stop.'

Evidence in the case also showed that Roberts personally distributed amounts of heroin to others during the conspiracy.

Antonio pleaded guilty to his role and was sentenced in March 2020 to 204 months in prison. Taylor also pleaded guilty and received 228 months behind bars.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger thanked the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; New Jersey State Police; the Mercer and Burlington County Prosecutor's Offices, and the Trenton and Ewing Police Departments for their work in this case.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Ramey of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.