Five Sentenced to Several Decades in Prison for Black Tar Heroin Trafficking

CHARLOTTE, NC—Five defendants who pleaded guilty to a federal indictment brought as part of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Operation "Dirty Girl 3," have been sentenced in federal court in Charlotte. The sentences, handed down by Chief District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr., are listed below.

• Wilfredo Andujar, age 45, of Gastonia, pled guilty on November 23, 2009, and was sentenced to 240 months in prison on December 6, 2010
• Anthony Britt Moore, age 41, of Gastonia, pled guilty on October 16, 2009, and was sentenced to 262 months in prison on November 10, 2010
• James Lee Thompson, age 47, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, pled guilty on October 16, 2009, and was sentenced to 188 months in prison on November 10, 2010
• Irvin Josue Navarro Ramirez, age 27, of Mexico, pled guilty on September 28, 2009, and was sentenced to 87 months in prison on December 6, 2010
• Nancy Tebbe Rotolo, age 53, of Charlotte, pled guilty on September 17, 2009, and was sentenced to 70 months in prison on December 6, 2010

Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

According to official court documents and evidence presented in court proceedings, the organization received heroin from Mexico and then used a local "dispatch" system through which purchasers called a phone number, a dispatcher directed the purchaser to a nearby location, and a "runner" met the purchaser in another vehicle to conduct the transaction. Today's announcement is made by Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina; Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Operations in North Carolina; Chief Tim Adams of the Gastonia Police Department; Tony Underwood, Special Agent in Charge of the Southern Piedmont District of the North Carolina SBI; and Chief Rodney Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The prosecution was handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman.