The owners of Wood’s Dog House, who were arrested in late May on drug charges, will have a plea conference on July 5 in Newark. Mark N. Benevento and his son Mark J. Benevento, both of Cedar Grove, were arrested May 24 after a joint effort by police from Verona and Cedar Grove, together with Montclair State University Police.
At his arraignment in Superior Court in Newark on June one, Mark J. Benevento, who is 18, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana, and possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school. Wood’s is the small food business at 467 Bloomfield Avenue just east of the Verona Park entrance. Mark N. Benevento, who is 50, was charged at the same hearing with possession of oxycodone, possession with intent to distribute, possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, and possession of amphetamines. The Beneventos’ lawyer, John J. Bruno Jr., did not return calls for comment.
The bust is the second oxycodone case in Verona in recent months. In December, Verona and Cedar Grove police Verona and Cedar Grove police arrested three men for pushing the prescription painkiller, which is often called “Hillbilly heroin” for its prevalence in rural America.
