NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man today admitted conspiring to launder the proceeds of narcotics activity, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Bobbie L. Henderson III, 36, of Edgewater, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2017 through May 23, 2019, Henderson conspired with others to launder the proceeds of narcotics distribution, with the intent to promote the distribution of narcotics. Henderson further admitted possessing more than $850,000 in furtherance of this conspiracy. These funds were seized by law enforcement during the course of the investigation.

Conspiracy to launder monetary instruments is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2020.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, with the investigation. Today’s guilty plea is the result of an investigation by the New York Strike Force, a crime-fighting unit comprising federal, state and local law enforcement agencies supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

The Strike Force is housed at the DEA’s New York Division and includes agents and officers of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, New York National Guard, the Clarkstown Police Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Port Washington Police Department and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francesca Liquori of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Defense counsel: Scott E. Leemon Esq., New York