Man Charged In Drug Bust At Manahawkin Smoke Shop: Police

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — A Stafford Township police narcotics investigation ended Aug. 7 with the arrest of a Waretown man and searches at a Manahawkin business and a Waretown home, according to the Stafford Township Police Department.

Police said the Stafford Township Police Department Drug Enforcement Unit, with help from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, concluded the investigation at about 3 p.m.

Douglas Krigstein, 41, of Sixth Street in Waretown, was arrested after investigators obtained three residential search warrants for the first and second floors of Prime Time Wellness Center, 777 East Bay Ave., Manahawkin, and for 300 Sixth St., Waretown.

According to police, Krigstein was found inside the first floor of Prime Time Wellness Center while the warrants were being carried out. Searches of the business’s first and second floors resulted in the seizure of more than five pounds of suspected marijuana, more than one ounce of suspected psilocybin, quantities of THC-labeled gummies, snacks, drinks and other edible products, a .177-caliber 3576 GT CO2 revolver-style air pistol, and more than $5,000 in U.S. currency.

Investigators also recovered items that police said were consistent with the production, processing and packaging of controlled dangerous substances. Those items included digital scales, a vacuum sealer, various vials and baggies used for packaging marijuana, a marijuana grow tent and lighting equipment.

As a result of the investigation, police charged Krigstein with first-degree maintaining and operating a controlled dangerous substance production facility; second-degree possession of a firearm while committing a controlled dangerous substance offense; second-degree certain persons not to possess a weapon; second-degree possession with intent to distribute more than five pounds of marijuana; third-degree money laundering; third-degree distribution of more than one ounce of marijuana; third-degree distribution of THC Delta-9; third-degree possession with intent to distribute psilocybin; third-degree possession with intent to distribute THC Delta-9; third-degree conspiracy to distribute THC Delta-9; third-degree conspiracy to distribute more than one ounce of marijuana; third-degree possession of psilocybin; two counts of third-degree possession of THC Delta-9; and fourth-degree possession of more than six ounces of marijuana.

Following processing at Stafford Township Police Headquarters, Krigstein was taken to the Ocean County Jail, where he is being held pending a detention hearing in Ocean County Superior Court, police said.

The police department also thanked the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Barnegat Township Police Department Crime Reduction Unit, United States Postal Inspection Service and Ocean County Regional SWAT Team for assisting in the investigation and the execution of the search warrants. Police noted that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.