October 2018 Operation Take Back Yields Impressive Results in Morris County

Published on October 29, 2018

On Saturday, October 27, 2018, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office participated in Operation Take Back in partnership with four local police departments. This was the second Operation Take Back of the year, the first one occurring in April. The event was coordinated and run smoothly with the help of Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp, Morris County Prosecutor's Office Chief of Investigations Stephen F. Wilson Jr., Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon, Morris Township Chief of Police Mark DiCarlo, Randolph Township Chief of Police David Stokoe, Morris Plains Borough Chief of Police Jason A. Kohn, and Hanover Township Chief of Police Mark D. Roddy

The Morris County community was encouraged to bring unused or expired prescription medicine to three designated locations from 10:00am through 2:00pm. The three drop-off locations were the Shoprite of Greater Morristown in East Hanover, the ACME Supermarket in Randolph, and the Stop and Shop Supermarket in Morris Plains. The drugs collected at these sites were weighed and will be destroyed by law enforcement officials in an environmentally safe manner.

The total weight in drugs collected from each location are as follows:
- Shoprite of Greater Morristown: 118 pounds.
- Stop and Shop of Morris Plains: 135 pounds.
- ACME of Randolph: 140 pounds.
- Total: 393 pounds.

Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp stated, Despite the harsh weather conditions, the people of Morris County still came out supported this great initiative. The nearly 400 pounds of expired or unused prescription drugs collected on Saturday plays a large role in preventing our citizens from becoming inadvertent drug dealers through their medicine cabinets. Thanks are in order to all of our law enforcement and community partners. Without them, we would not have been able to run such a successful program.

From left: MCPO Det./Sup. Patrick LaGuerre, Stop and Shop Store Manager Ankur Patel, Morris Plains Councilwoman Sue McCluskey, Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp, MCPO Det. Mary Falzarano, and Morris Plains Ptl. Adam Klymko.

From left: MCPO Det. Thomas Spautz, MCPO Det. Aaron King, Prosecutor Knapp, Hanover Township Ptl. Michael Byrnes, Morris Township Ptl. Nicholas Gonzales, and Morris Township Ptl. Kyle Laauwe.

The community is reminded that permanent drop box locations can be found at http://safehealthymorris.org/dropbox/ if they were not able to attend this event.

Inquiries concerning this press release should be directed to Public Information Officer Peter DiGennaro at pressinquiry@co.morris.nj.us or 973-829-8159.