NJ Men Sentenced For Roles In Drug Ring That Spanned Across Continent
By Paul Kurtz
VINELAND, NJ (CBS) -- Two South Jersey men have been sentenced to ten year prison terms for their roles in a drug ring that relied on the USPS and FedEx.
Forty-one-year-old Juan Cortez and 35-year-old Angel Rivera, both of Vineland, were busted in March of 2013 shortly after taking a delivery of a kilogram of coke from a courier. The drugs were discovered in a hidden compartment in Rivera's vehicle.
He and Cortez plead guilty to possession with intent to deliver and have been sentenced to ten years behind bars.
Elie Honig, Director of the NJ Attorney General's Division of Criminal Justice, says they were members of a drug network that spanned across the continent.
"This was a drug ring that was transporting in kilogram quantities cocaine from Jamaica, from California into New Jersey. They were using a parcel post and distributing them all around the state."
Honig says the investigation seized 26 kilos of coke worth nearly a million dollars, and more than a half of a million dollars in cash.
Four other defendants were previously sentenced, and charges are pending against a Jamaican hip-hop artist and his brother, who were the alleged ringleaders.
