By John Burton
FREEHOLD – The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office’s Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) has been working with Asbury Park and Neptune police departments in response to recent violence and shootings in the area, resulting in a series of arrests.
Members of the team and local law enforcement conducted a two-month investigation and issued warrants on Wednesday on a Bangs Avenue residence in Asbury Park that netted a number of arrests and a quantity of cocaine and an undisclosed amount of cash, according to authorities.
Arrested was Joseph Robinson, 80, owner of the Bangs Avenue residential property. Police charged him with operating an illegal gambling establishment out of the second floor apartment. Authorities said they discovered more than a dozen people engaged in illegal gambling at the site. The website allegedly provided gambling services for a number of other websites operating out of Sweden as well. One of the sites was Rizk, which is an online casino that is banned in Sweden, according to Casinor’s list of online Swedish casinos operating without a license in 2021.
The county TNT was dispatched to Asbury Park to conduct high-visibility crime suppression operations in the aftermath of a recent series of violent crimes.
The joint operations with local law is aimed at creating a presence to build on community relationships, increase public confidence and to foster communications between law enforcement and the residents to stem the tide of violence, according to the prosecutor’s office.
