A Monmouth County drug dealer has been sentenced to ten years in state prison including 40-months of parole ineligibility by Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Ocean County for the first degree charge of dealing cocaine, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.

Edward Scattaglia Jr., 43, of Red Bank was charged in 2015 during the state's "Operation Tidal Wave" that tied him as the ring leader of a drug network dealing cocaine across Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

He was charged in an investigation led by the New Jersey State Police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Scattaglia pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree distribution of cocaine.

“Operation Tidal Wave,” was a cooperative investigation led by the New Jersey State Police Trafficking Central Unit and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Atlantic City Office, with assistance from the Division of Criminal Justice, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Middletown Township Police, and Jersey City Police.

Investigators found that Scattaglia used his residence as the focal point of his trafficking network, where he would meet with various individuals and supply them with cocaine for redistribution.

Rick Hiemenz, 37, of Toms River,  another ring member arrested in Operation Tidal Wave, was sentenced On February 16, 2018, to 10 years in state prison.

He also pleaded guilty to first-degree distribution of cocaine.

Deputy Attorneys General Michael A. Klein and Jaclyn Poulton prosecuted Scattaglia, and Deputy Attorney General Poulton handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.

“While law enforcement has focused its attention on heroin, fentanyl, and opioid pain pills in its fight against the opioid epidemic, we continue to target major traffickers like Scattaglia who distribute cocaine, which contributes to hundreds of overdose deaths each year in New Jersey as well as the violence that accompanies street-level drug dealing,” Attorney General Grewal said. “Our collaborative efforts take aim at all drug dealers who fuel addiction and crime in our communities.”

Deputy Attorneys General Klein and Poulton prosecuted the case for the Division of Criminal Justice under the supervision of Deputy Attorney General Lauren Scarpa Yfantis, Chief of the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, and Deputy Bureau Chief Erik Daab.

Attorney General Grewal commended all of the members of law enforcement who conducted the investigation for the New Jersey State Police Trafficking Central Unit, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Atlantic City Office, Division of Criminal Justice, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Middletown Township Police Department, and Jersey City Police Department.

Defense Attorney: Peter R. Willis, Esq., Jersey City, N.J.

More Jersey Shore News:

More From 94.3 The Point