County Men Face Drug Charges After Routine Lakehurst Traffic Stop

What started as a traffic stop in for a brake light violation ended with drug charges for two Ocean County men. 

Officer Jeffrey Emmons stopped a 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier driven by 28-year-old Tyler Foose of Whiting at about 2 a.m. Thursday.

Police charged Foose with possession of drug paraphernalia after a search, said Chief of Police Eric Higgins. 

Foose's passenger, 29-year-old South Toms River resident Vincent Surko, faces one weapons charge and multiple drug charges after police searched him.

Police found Surko with a butterfly knife — "a prohibited weapon," Higgins said. 

Further investigation found that Surko also had eight bags of heroin, an oxycodone pill, two oxymorphine tablets and a morphine sulfate tablet, Higgins said.

"Surko also had two traffic warrants for his arrest from Manchester Township and Manalapan Township," the chief said. 

Police charged Foose with possession of drug paraphernalia and he was released on a summons. 

Surko was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon (butterfly knife), possession of heroin, and three counts of possession of controlled dangerous substance for the oxycodone pill, oxymorphine, and the morphine sulfate table, Higgins said. 

Municipal Court Judge Damian Murray set Surko's bail at $15,000 and he was taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, according to the chief. 

Members of the Manchester Police Department assisted Emmons during the stop, Higgins said.