READING, Pa. – A former Reading resident was sentenced to a dozen years behind bars for trafficking illegal drugs into Connecticut.
Israel Mendoza, also known as “D-Nice” and “Israel Mandosa,” pleaded guilty in the fall of 2024 to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, heroin and cocaine.
Mendoza was sentenced today to 84 months’ imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.
In 2018, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force began investigating a Hartford, Connecticut area narcotics trafficking operation that involved the use of the U.S. Mail to ship parcels of drugs and drug proceeds.
Investigators determined that Mendoza supplied Michael Copeland with large quantities of cocaine, and that Copeland, at Mendoza’s direction, mailed parcels containing cash to individuals in California.
The federal drug charges are not the only legal action Mendoza is facing.
In August of 2023, investigators with The Reading Police Department announced a suspect, identified as Mendoza, had been arrested in a 1998 homicide.
Authorities allege Mendoza was responsible for the 1998 fatal drive-by shooting of Michelle Lutz, who was shot and killed in the area Front and Elm streets.
Mendoza was taken into custody in Jalisco, Mexico by the U.S. Marshalls Office and local law enforcement.
At the time of the murder, investigators identified four suspects: Placido Rodriguez, Joshua Ramirez, Robert Radhames-Herrera and Mendoza.
In 1998, Rodriguez and Ramirez were arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit 3rd degree murder and both were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison.
Police say Radhames-Herrera remains at large.
Mendoza is due back in court on the homicide charges on May 9th.