Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy announced that two men were sentenced to state prison today on charges that they distributed heroin and operated a heroin mill as members of a major heroin supply network in Camden.
They were indicted as the result of a joint investigation called “Operation China White” that was led by the New Jersey State Police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. One of the men also was charged in a separate investigation by the same agencies called “Operation 3Ni.”
Jose O. Fortuna, 40, of Camden, was sentenced today to 14 ½ years in prison, including five years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge John T. Kelley in Camden.
He pleaded guilty on March 22 to first-degree maintaining a heroin production facility, a charge from the indictment in Operation China White, and first-degree distribution of heroin, in connection with Operation 3Ni. He was sentenced to 14 ½ years, including five years of parole ineligibility, on the distribution charge, and a concurrent sentence of 12 years, including 4 ½ years of parole ineligibility, on the production facility charge.
Andrew Lopez, 31, of Camden, was sentenced today to 10 years in state prison, including five years of parole ineligibility, by Judge Kelley. Lopez pleaded guilty on March 22 to a charge of first-degree distribution of heroin in Operation China White.
The joint investigation revealed that Jose Fortuna’s nephew, Wilson Fortuna, 27, of Camden, was a heroin supplier who supplied heroin to dealers in the ring targeted in Operation China White, as well as an alleged heroin dealer arrested in Operation 3Ni. Wilson Fortuna obtained heroin from a heroin mill that Jose Fortuna maintained inside his residence in the 300 block of North 41st Street in Camden.
Wilson Fortuna pleaded guilty on March 22 to first-degree distribution of heroin, a charge contained in the indictment in Operation China White, and second-degree conspiracy, in connection with Operation 3Ni.
Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that he be sentenced to 11 years in prison, including more than three years of parole ineligibility, on the distribution charge, and a concurrent sentence of seven years on the conspiracy charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24.
Lopez was charged in connection with two sales of first-degree quantities of heroin to an undercover officer. On July 24, 2013, he sold more than five ounces of heroin to the undercover officer at a location next to Von Neida Park in Camden.
On Oct. 10, 2013, Lopez sold nearly nine ounces of heroin to the undercover officer at the same location. The heroin for the second transaction was obtained from Wilson Fortuna immediately prior to the sale. Lopez was arrested after that transaction.
Jose and Wilson Fortuna were arrested in October 2013. Detectives and agents executed search warrants at the homes of both men. At the home of Jose Fortuna, the investigators found a heroin production facility in the basement containing a steel hydraulic press, 12 containers of a dietary supplement used as a cutting agent, scales, tools used for cutting and packaging, a currency counter, and $30,000 in cash. They also found a plastic bag containing three-quarters of a kilo of heroin.