Alex N. Gecan

@GeeksterTweets

TOMS RIVER - Nearly seven years after they began wiretapping Daryel Rawls and busted him with 20 bricks of heroin and 36 grams of cocaine, authorities have successfully convicted him of running a drug-trafficking network and other drug crimes.

But before they can sentence him, they will have to find him.

A jury found the 36-year-old Lakewood man guilty of first-degree leading a narcotics trafficking network, second-degree conspiracy to possess heroin with intent to distribute and second-degree possession with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato's office announced Thursday. But Rawls remains "a fugitive from justice," according to the announcement.

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The investigation, known as "Operation Baked Zito," began in 2010, and spanned several New Jersey counties, wrote Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office. Over a month of wiretaps, "Rawls was captured managing and organizing his heroin distribution ring." Authorities arrested him – and found his cache of drugs – in October 2010.

All in all authorities charged 13 people. Della Fave said all 13 have been convicted.

The case hit a speed bump when two parties involved in the case, husband-and-wife Teron Savoy and Yolanda Terry, argued that recorded conversations with each other were inadmissible on the grounds they should be considered confidential spousal communication.

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Rawls' latest conviction follows a 2012 guilty plea to drug possession with intent to distribute. Rawls pleaded guilty after another mass roundup, "Operation Lowdown," that culminated in a November 2009 sting. That roundup charged 25 people and put Rawls' elder brother, 37-year-old Detric, behind bars until at least 2038, according to state Department of Corrections records.

Daryel Rawls – also known as Derryl, Darryl and Daryl – served just under five years for his part in Operation Lowdown on top of an earlier drug conviction. He got out in July 2016, according to Department of Corrections records.

Rawls spent his first five-plus years in jail, also for drug dealing, from January 2003 to August 2008, according to Department of Corrections records.

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Senior Assistant Prosecutor Michael Abatemarco and Assistant Prosecutor Robert Cassidy tried the case, Della Fave said. Piscataway Attorney Keith Reid represented Rawls. Detectives and other personnel from the prosecutor's office's Special Operations Group, the Ocean County Sheriff's Office's crime scene investigation unit and New Jersey State Police worked on or testified in the case.

The prosecutor's office and the U.S. Marshals Service are looking for Rawls, Della Fave said. Authorities asked anyone with information on where to find him call the prosecutor's office at 732-929-2027.

Alex N. Gecan: 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com