SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 37-year-old Hazleton resident was sentenced today to serve 41 months in federal prison by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik for participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Willy Perez, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine during July through October 2013.

Perez was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2014, as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Scranton Police.

Judge Kosik also ordered Perez to be placed on three years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Perez, a legal resident alien, faces deportation and removal from the United States as a result of this felony conviction.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.