A manager for a drug-trafficking ring that purchased more than 100 kilograms of cocaine in Puerto Rico and shipped it to Atlantic County and other areas pleaded guilty in Camden Federal Court.
Jose Gonzalez, 50, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn to a charge of one count of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, the kilograms, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said.
He admitted that he and other conspirators purchased and shipped more than 100 kilograms of cocaine.
From at least March 2019 to August 2020, he and others traveled from Philadelphia International Airport to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to purchase multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and the overnighted it to addresses in Philadelphia and Atlantic County, according to the charges.
Gonzalez resold the kilograms to other drug dealers for a profit.
When Gonzalez was arrested in August 2020, agents seized more than $120,000 in cash during a search of his residence in Philadelphia and a 9mm handgun from an auto garage that Gonzalez operated in Philadelphia.
As part of his plea agreement, Gonzalez agreed to the forfeiture of the gun and money, along with a Dodge Ram pickup truck that was used in connection with the drug-trafficking conspiracy.
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He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30.
The drug-trafficking conspiracy charge carries a mandatory penalty of 10 years in prison, with a maximum of life. The maximum fine is $10 million.
Sellinger credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Philadelphia Division, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raimundo Marrero; agents of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office, under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi; special agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark; special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire in Philadelphia; troopers assigned to the New Jersey State Police Strategic Investigations Unit South, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan; and officers and detectives of the Philadelphia Police Department, under the direction of Police Commissioner Daniel Outlaw, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
