Luzerne County Man Sentenced To 180 Months’ Imprisonment For Drug Trafficking Conspiracy And Firearm Possession

SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that yesterday Damian Julmal Navarro, age 27, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion following his conviction for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute heroin/fentanyl, as well as for possessing a firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking crimes.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Navarro pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin/fentanyl, and to a second charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.   Navarro was one of eleven defendants indicted in May 2020.  With the exception of Tysheen Gott, a/k/a “LB,” all other co-conspirators pleaded guilty.  Gott was convicted after trial in August 2021, and is awaiting sentencing. 

This case was the result of a year-long investigation, in part driven by multiple federal wiretaps conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Wilkes-Barre Police Department, the Scranton Police Department, the Pittston City Police Department, the Plymouth Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office, the Wyoming County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Pennsylvania Attorney General.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Olshefski and Robert O’Hara prosecuted the case.

This case was part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This case was also brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

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