Trucker pleads guilty in NJSP seizure of 64 kilos of heroin

A California truck driver who New Jersey State Police found trafficking 74 kilograms of drugs on a Warren County highway pleaded guilty Friday. Henry Cruz Ventura, 40, of Los Angeles, will face 10 years in state prison when he is sentenced June 23, after pleading guilty to first-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Ventura was arrested Aug. 23, after a routine commercial vehicle safety inspection resulted in troopers finding 64 kilograms of heroin and 10 kilograms of cocaine inside four boxes, Attorney General Christopher Porrino sad. The heroin could have been cut down into several million bags for distribution. "Seizures of this scale have a major and immediate impact in cutting off the supply line of these deadly and corrosive drugs in New Jersey and the region," said Elie Honig, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice."We'll continue to target large-scale heroin traffickers as well as those who run the pill mills that are fueling addiction by illegally supplying the black market for prescription opiates." The search was made after Trooper James Agens noticed Ventura was acting strange and that there were irregularities with respect to the tractor-trailer and its cargo, according to the charges in the case. The four boxes were opened because they were inconsistent with the cargo listed in the shipping manifest. Agens found 15 kilograms of heroin in the axles of a tractor-trailer during a commercial safety inspection three months before Ventura's stop. "Thanks to the vigilance of Trooper Agens, this deadly cargo never reached the streets of our communities, and undoubtedly lives were saved that would have been lost due to overdoses," Porrino said. "This plea keeps Ventura in prison where he belongs."