NEWARK, N.J. – A Riverside, California, man was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for transporting eroin and fentanyl from California to New Jersey for distribution in New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito; Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division; New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill; Keith M. Corlett, Acting Superintendent of the New York State Police; and Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York Field Office, announced.
Joselito Colindres, 42, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute over one kilogram of heroin and over 400 grams of fentanyl. Judge Martini imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Oct. 21, 2018, law enforcement officers learned that Colindres and Nester Estuardo Ruano Gutierrez were driving a tractor-trailer containing narcotics from California to New Jersey and elsewhere. After a lawful search of the tractor trailer, law enforcement officers found boxes of narcotics, including approximately 10 kilograms of heroin and four kilograms of fentanyl. Colindres admitted in court that these narcotics were intended for sale in and around New Jersey.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Martini sentenced Colindres to two years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited 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), with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.