Liquor store owners charged with drug-dealing

The owners of a Bellmawr liquor store and two others have been charged in connection with drug activity at the store and a neighboring laundromat on Browning Road, authorities said Friday.

Investigators targeted both locations during a months-long investigation and seized 74 bags of heroin, 25 bags of crack cocaine, 245 oxycodone pills, and $56,000 in cash, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said.

The owners of Johnnies Liquors on 834 W. Browning Rd. were charged with distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. They include Jalat Patel, 46, Rakesh Patel, 43, and Dhananjaya Patel, 48, all of Somerdale. They were released from custody after being charged, authorities said.

A man who answered the phone at the business Friday said the owners were not there.

The other location authorities investigated was Bellmawr Laundromat on 831 Browning Rd.

Two others charged were Dominique Green, 27, of Bellmawr, for possession of heroin and crack cocaine, and Armando Rosario, 59, of Bellmawr, for possession and distribution of oxycodone pills. Green's bail was set at $200,000, and Rosario at $125,000.

- Michael Boren