Four found with drugs and guns in A.C. motel will remain jailed

Four people arrested inside an Atlantic City motel room allegedly filled with drugs were ordered held Tuesday.

Padisha Poole, Michelle McDermott, Patricia Murray and Maranda Britt were arrested last Wednesday, after the Atlantic City Police Department’s Special Investigations Section executed a narcotics search warrant at the Martinique Motel at 3029 Pacific Ave.

Inside Room 104 of the Martinique Motel were drugs and paraphernalia, including 226 wax folds of suspected heroin, about 35 grams of crack cocaine, 11 films of suboxone and crack pipes, according to the charges.

There were also two guns: a 9mm Taurus G2S reported stolen out of Kingston, and a defaced handgun, according to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by BreakingAC.

But who was the room was rented to and who was targeted in the investigation were the big questions for the four defense attorneys arguing for their clients' to be released Tuesday.

Poole, 52, of Atlantic City, was at the hotel because he recently got out of the hospital for congestive heart failure and one of the women who rented the room was assisting with his medical care, defense attorney Robert Johnson told the judge.

But the attorneys for the other three women all pointed to Poole as the drug dealer, with their clients basically "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Atlantic City police released that about $3,025 in cash was found in the room. The attorneys for the women pointed out that the affidavit only mentions one of the defendants having money on them: Poole was found with $295.

McDermott, 42, of Toms River, said the room belonged "to Mr. Poole," attorney John Bjorklund said.

"I asked, 'Who's Mr. Poole?'" Bjorklund said. "She said, 'He's a drug dealer.'"

She told Bjorklund that she was in the room to buy drugs.

McDermott is an educated woman with a bachelor's in business administration and certification to sell stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, who is now "a heroin addict ... a crack smoker who has gone off the rails.

"She needs drug treatment," he said.

Murray's defense attorney also pointed to Poole.

Louis Casadia pointed to a basket found underneath a center table in the motel room that has a basket "that basically had a drug-dealer starter kit in it," he said.

When police were done investigating, the basket was given to Poole, the attorney said. He also indicated it had pills prescribed to Poole

"I believe it leaves Miss Murray as someone who was at the wrong place at the wrong time," Casadia said.

"She was likely there to purchase CDS (controlled dangerous substance) for herself," he added as 27-year-old Murray of Little Egg Harbor Township nodded.

Britt's attorney also said his client was a victim of timing.

"I have a feeling she knocked on the wrong door at the wrong time," Tom Rossell said.

He noted that the 29-year-old woman from New Egypt, Ocean County, has not indictable history or violence.

But each of the defendants do have histories of disorderly persons offenses, mainly related to drugs.

That coupled with the guns led to Judge Pam D'Arcy ordering all four held during their separate hearings.

They each face more than a dozen charges, including money laundering, weapons offenses and drug possession with intent to distribute.

D'Arcy urged each attorney to get a copy of the warrant naming the target of the investigation and who rented the room. The new information could lead to a new detention hearing.

A different judge would be making that decision, as the case move to Judge Dorothy Garrabrant.