Seniors Charged for Drug, Prostitution Ring at Jersey Old Folks' Home
Three people—a 75-year-old man and two women, aged 66 and 54—have been arrested and charged with running a drug and prostitution ring out of a senior citizens' housing complex in Englewood, New Jersey. (Were you guessing Florida? Good guess, but not this time.)
Cheryl Chaney and James Parham had lived at the Vincente K. Tibbs Senior Citizen Building since 2010 and 2012, respectively. Both had passed the income requirements and criminal background checks required to live in the 152-unit complex, which is reserved exclusively for low-income people age 62 and up and disabled people age 55 and up. However, it wasn't long after the pair started hanging out together, and with a non-resident accomplice named Selma McDuffie, that the once peaceful Tibbs building got rowdy.
There were reports of drunk people lingering around the complex, used condoms in the rec room, furious banging on people's doors in the middle of the night, and addicts passed out in various places throughout the residence. Things got so bad that Englewood Police Chief Arthur O'Keefe decided to send undercover cops to watch over Tibbs. The officers were then able to track the origin of most of the problems to Parham and Chaney's section of the building's fifth floor.
In late April, police arrested fifth-floor residents James Parham and his neighbor Cheryl Chaney on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a drug nuisance. Chaney faces an additional charge of possession of crack cocaine.
A third suspect, Selma McDuffie, a 54-year-old school crossing guard, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia after police found her with a crack pipe, police said...
Parham admitted providing prostitutes—mostly young women with crack cocaine addictions—to some of his younger neighbors in the building, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said. More charges could be pending.
Despite the fact that Parham and Chaney are now being evicted on top of their arrests, Chief O'Keefe says he plans on maintaining round-the-clock police patrols of the Tibbs building. "I’m not going to allow the seniors to fall victim again," he told Bergen County's The Record.
[Image via Google Maps]