READING, Pa. – A Reading man will spend two decades behind bars for drug trafficking.
35-year-old Diego Castillo-Pedraza of Reading was sentenced in federal court to 240 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role in trafficking methamphetamine between July 2019 and March 2021.
In July 2019, FBI agents intercepted a package containing approximately six pounds of pure methamphetamine shipped through the U.S. Mail from California to a Reading residence.
At the time of the shipment, agents were conducting a wiretap investigation and later determined that the package was shipped at the direction of Castillo-Pedraza.
In March 2021, Berks County Detectives executed a search warrant at the same residence in Reading and recovered approximately two pounds of methamphetamine from a safe inside of a bedroom.
Fingerprint analysis revealed that Castillo-Pedraza’s fingerprint was on the exterior packaging of the methamphetamine.
Castillo-Pedraza was convicted by a jury in September 2024 after a three-day trial.
Authorities say trial evidence established that Castillo-Pedraza orchestrated a scheme to receive and store large quantities of methamphetamine at the Reading residence and directed at least two other individuals to assist with the trafficking operation.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Berks County Detectives as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program.