July 16, 2001

TASK FORCE ARRESTS PROSECUTOR’S MOST WANTED FUGITIVE

 

Trenton, NJ — A Trenton man ranked number one on the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Most Wanted list was arrested early this morning in New York by the Central Jersey Fugitive Task Force (CJFTF), Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel G. Giaquinto and U.S. Marshal Charles L. McNeal announced.

 

Carlton Coates (DOB 7/22/69), whose last known Trenton address is the 800 block of Bellevue Avenue, was arrested at approximately 3 a.m. this morning at a residence located on 145th Road and 177th Street in Queens by members of the fugitive task force.  Through the course of the investigation, the task force managed to track Coates through Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York and New Jersey.  Investigators recently acquired information that placed Coates in the vicinity of John F. Kennedy International Airport, the site of a previous arrest.

 

Early this morning, after pinpointing Coates’ location, members of the fugitive task force, with the assistance of the Newark, New Jersey District of the U.S. Marshals Service and the New York/New Jersey HIDTA Fugitive Task Force (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), surrounded the house on 145th Road and 177th Street Avenue.  As Coates was attempting to exit the residence through a second story window, he spotted police and proceeded back inside.  The defendant opened the front door and gave police a fictitious name, at which point he was taken into custody without incident. 

 

Coates is currently being lodged in the Bronx on a warrant out of New York City.  His bail in Mercer County was revoked.  He is also wanted in Hawthorne, California and Camden, New Jersey for drug charges.

 

Between January 1990 and January 1994, Coates was indicted on five separate occasions on various charges, including aggravated assault, weapons offenses, drug offenses and tampering with a witness/
retaliating against a witness.  He pled guilty to a comprehensive package offer and was scheduled to be sentenced on February 19, 1999.  When Coates failed to appear for sentencing, Superior Court Judge Charles A. Delehey issued a bench warrant for his arrest.  Detective Joseph Angarone of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and Deputy U.S. Marshal Rick Cope began leading an investigation to locate Coates shortly thereafter.

 

“With five open files in our office alone, Carlton Coates is the real deal,” Giaquinto said.  “Taking this fugitive off the streets is a victory, not only for Mercer County residents, but for all of the communities he preyed upon.”

 

Coates’ brother, Debrie Coates (DOB 6/21/71), was apprehended in Jamaica earlier this year following an extensive investigation by the fugitive task force.  He is currently in custody in Jamaica pending international extradition proceedings.

 

The Central Jersey Fugitive Task Force targets violent and drug-related fugitives wanted on state and federal warrants.  It is led by Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel G. Giaquinto and U.S. Marshal Charles L. McNeal and comprised of members of the Trenton District of the U.S. Marshals Service and officers of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey State Police, the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the Hamilton Township Police Department and the Trenton Police Department.