A Ventnor man was ordered held in jail after getting arrested in Atlantic City a week after he released pending sentencing on other charges.
Joseph Riley, 33, is now accused of selling a wax fold of crack cocaine to a man at about 2 a.m. Feb. 28, in the 1500 block of Atlantic Avenue.
Police conducting surveillance in response to complaints of drug deals in that area saw Riley meet up with a man later identified as Jeffrey Bell, take cash, go back to an idling vehicle and return with a small baggie that he handed to Bell, according to the charges laid out at his detention hearing Tuesday.
Riley was arrested with about $106 on him, but no drugs, attorney Robert Johnson pointed out, saying the case against his client is weak.
Judge William Miller found enough evidence to meet the low burden of probable cause, and ordered Riley detained, based upon the new charge coming just days after Riley's release pending sentencing under a guilty plea that wrapped up several other cases.
"So they gave him street time even though he’s going to jail, and he used that street time to sell drugs," the judge said. "He’s reoffended despite just pleading guilty with the knowledge that he's (going to prison). He’s an extremely poor candidate for pretrial release."
Riley faces four years in prison under the previous plea to possession with intent to distribute and eluding.
That plea agreement wrapped up several pending charges, including stealing a vehicle left outside the 7-Eleven in Atlantic City on Jan. 30, 2024.
Riley, who also goes by the first name Yusef, was arrested after he crashed the car and then ran from the crash with an injured leg.
He was later found hiding in a pile of lawn clippings behind a pool in the backyard of a home in the 1100 block of North Ohio Avenue, Assistant Prosecutor Despina Hess told the judge at the time.
He was on crutches when he appeared at that detention hearing last year, with the affidavit claiming he told police Riley believed he injured his leg in a car crash.
Defense attorney Johnson said that medical records would show Riley had surgery on his foot two days earlier.
Regardless of those details, those charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Since Riley already had served more than a year of jail time, he was released pending sentencing set for May.
Johnson said he planned to argue for his client to have a suspended sentence due to how much time he already served. With a four-year flat sentence, there is no mandatory term of parole ineligibility, meaning Riley would not have that much time left to serve before he would be eligible for parole.
Instead, Riley wound up back in jail.
This is not his first time arrested while on some form of supervised release.
A month before he was arrested for stealing the vehicle, Riley had been released from jail for a case involving his father, also named Joseph Riley.
They were charged with gun and drug offenses tied to a vehicle both were passengers in that ended up having guns hidden inside.
Johnson noted at the time that the case was weak, which led to the younger Riley's release in December 2024. His father was held.
At the time, he also had five other pending cases for a total of 10 charges.
Riley also has done several prison stints, Miller noted at Tuesday's hearing.
He had been out of prison just six months when he was arrested with his father, after serving a 3½0-year sentence on drugs and resisting, BreakingAC previously reported.
That was one of nine periods of incarceration he has served on 12 prior indictable convictions, according to his record listed at the hearing.
