Black Tar Heroin Trafficker Sentenced to Over 12 Years in Prison
Defendant Was Major Supplier for the Organization

CHARLOTTE, NC—Late yesterday, Candelario Gonzalez-Rivera, 27, also known as “Juancho,” a major Mexican black tar heroin trafficker, was sentenced by Chief District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr., to serve 150 months in prison, announced Anne M. Tompkins, United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Gonzalez-Rivera, pleaded guilty to a federal indictment brought as part of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Gastonia Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies.

According to official court documents and information brought out in court proceedings, Gonzalez-Rivera was a major source of supply of black tar heroin for the organization. When he was arrested in February 2010, Gonzalez-Rivera was found to be in possession of more than $50,000 in cash bundled for smuggling back to Mexico, hundreds of balloons used to package and distribute black tar heroin, and two firearms. Judge Conrad increased Gonzalez-Rivera’s sentence because of the magnitude of his supplies of heroin to the area and because of the defendant’s demonstrated lack of remorse during sentencing. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

Today’s announcement is made by Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina; Rodney G. Benson, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of DEA, of which the DEA Charlotte District Office is a part; Joe Campbell, Acting Special Agent in Charge of FBI’s Charlotte Division; Chief Rodney Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department; and Chief Tim Adams of the Gastonia Police Department.

The prosecution was handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman.

United States v. Gonzalez-Rivera
Case Number 3:10-cr-70