Fugitive meth dealer who used NJ casinos in scheme arrested, officials say

🔴 A New Jersey man accused of drug trafficking was captured in Sacramento.

🔴 Investigators say he used Atlantic City casinos to launder $107,000.

🔴 His cousin is serving a five-year prison sentence in the scheme.

ATLANTIC CITY — After four years on the lam, a New Jersey man on the Most Wanted list has been arrested on the other side of the country.

Jordan Ragland, 33, of Absecon, faces drug and weapons charges after his recent arrest in Sacramento, California.

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The accused crystal meth dealer was finally busted by the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force, according to the state Attorney General's Office. He made it nearly half a decade out west.

Investigators have been looking for Ragland since June 2021. He was added to the New Jersey State Police's Most Wanted list in May 2025.

“No matter how far someone runs, or how long they hide, if we believe they are guilty of a crime, we will not stop until they are brought to justice,” said Attorney General Matt Platkin.

According to state police, the Casino Gaming Bureau began investigating Ragland in September 2020. They believed he was using casinos in Atlantic City to launder money.

Detectives said they tied him to $107,000 in money laundering.

Investigators also found that meth was regularly being shipped to Ragland's home on Connecticut Avenue in Atlantic City, officials said.

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They intercepted one package as it was being delivered and then searched the home on March 2, 2021. The search turned up more than $43,000 worth of drugs and guns, police said.

Ragland's cousin, James Wright, of Atlantic City, was also charged in the scheme. He was arrested at the Connecticut Ave. home during the search and is now serving a five-year prison sentence.

However, Ragland was not at home. According to the attorney general, he fled to California.

Officials said that while in the Golden State, Ragland went under different names and continued to make crystal meth.

He's charged with first-degree intent to distribute meth, two counts of first-degree operating a drug production facility, second-degree intent to distribute fentanyl, two counts of second-degree possession of a weapon during a drug offense, and multiple other weapon offenses.

Ragland has been extradited to New Jersey and is being held at Atlantic County Jail.

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