ERIE, Pa. (EYT) \u2014 Fifteen individuals from Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio have been indicted by a federal grand jury following a Homeland Security Task Force investigation into a drug trafficking conspiracy centered in Erie, according to U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti.<\/p>\n
The defendants were named in two separate but related one-count indictments involving allegations of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine.<\/p>\n
According to federal officials, 13 defendants were charged in the first indictment with conspiracy involving various quantities of fentanyl and cocaine, while two additional defendants were charged in a second indictment involving cocaine distribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis prosecution is another important example of our office\u2019s commitment to safeguard the people of northwestern Pennsylvania from the scourge of fentanyl and cocaine and\u2014working with our law enforcement partners at the federal, state, and local levels\u2014to bring to justice those responsible for endangering our families, friends, and neighbors,\u201d Rivetti said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese defendants violated the law by trafficking illegal drugs within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,\u201d said Capt. Nicholas A. Cortes, Director of the Drug Law Enforcement Division of the Pennsylvania State Police. \u201cThe successful outcome of this investigation demonstrates the effectiveness of coordinated enforcement efforts among our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. By dismantling this drug trafficking organization, investigators have disrupted the distribution of dangerous drugs and enhanced public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal authorities said the investigation was conducted through the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, which focuses on dismantling transnational criminal organizations, drug trafficking networks, gangs, and related criminal enterprises.<\/p>\n
Among the agencies involved in the investigation were the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Pennsylvania State Police, Erie Police Department, Oil City Police Department, Franklin Police Department, Meadville Police Department, Edinboro Police Department, and several other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania State Police Capt. Nicholas A. Cortes said the investigation demonstrated the effectiveness of coordinated law enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy dismantling this drug trafficking organization, investigators have disrupted the distribution of dangerous drugs and enhanced public safety throughout the Erie community,\u201d Cortes said.<\/p>\n
The defendants charged in Indictment One include:<\/p>\n
Abner Cintron-Melendez, 40, Jamestown, NY
\nYirzak Caceres-Perez, 28, West Babylon, NY
\nThalia Dalie Lynch, 31, Jamestown, NY
\nAlberto Daniel Arroyo-Amaro, 27, Erie, PA
\nBrayan Omar Arroyo-Amaro, 29, Erie, PA
\nYanelite Amaro-Colon, 39, Erie, PA
\nLuis Serrano-Mojica, 34, Youngstown, OH
\nJuan Gustavo Cartagena Sr., 31, Erie, PA
\nLandy Gerebee Pacheco-Mendez, 34, Erie, PA
\nLourdes Marie Cartagena, 30, Erie, PA
\nLuis Ramon Feliciano-Martinez, 54, Erie, PA
\nJavier Carrasquillo, 47, Jamestown, NY
\nMariah Arlene Jackson, 29, Jamestown, NY<\/p>\n
The defendants charged in Indictment Two include:<\/p>\n
Luis Antonio DeJesus Jr., 46, Erie, PA
\nDaniel Tirado, 45, Erie, PA<\/p>\n
Several defendants face potential maximum penalties of life imprisonment if convicted.<\/p>\n
Officials emphasized that an indictment is an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ERIE, Pa. (EYT) \u2014 Fifteen individuals from Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio have been indicted by a federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5876,136,138,137,3635,68214,54234,1224],"class_list":["post-196738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-drug-trafficking","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-fbi","tag-federal-indictment","tag-homeland-security-investigations","tag-pennsylvania-state-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}