California Man Sentenced for Role in Cross-Country Cocaine Distribution Network

PITTSBURGH - A California resident has been sentenced in federal court to 46 months of imprisonment with credit for time served, on his conviction of conspiracy to distribute a quantity of cocaine and his conviction of possessing with the intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine, a Schedule II controlled substance, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

United States District Judge Cathy Bissoon imposed the sentence Wednesday on Francisco Javier Campos-Ortega, age 32, of Yucaipa, California.

According to information presented to the court, Olufemi Young, Tayde Torres, Javier Ochoa, Hector Armenta-Cardenas, Francisco Javier Campos-Ortega, Joel Rodriguez, and Manuel Alejandro Cardenas conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin and cocaine. Campos-Ortega also possessed cocaine with the intent to distribute it. Olufemi Young previously pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and heroin on a large-scale. Since his release from federal prison in 2011, law enforcement collected evidence that Young conspired to distribute multiple kilogram quantities of cocaine and heroin in the Western District of Pennsylvania, with these narcotics coming mainly from California and Arizona. Young’s primary suppliers of these narcotics were, as alleged: Torres, Armenta-Cardenas, Ochoa, and others. From May 2012 until May 2014, in relation to this conspiracy, law enforcement seized four kilograms of heroin and five kilograms of cocaine, $920,000 in cash, and an “owe sheet,” indicating that Young had purchased 10 kilograms of cocaine and two kilograms of heroin from Ochoa and his co-conspirators. In November of 2014, law enforcement stopped a tractor trailer, being driven by Campos-Ortega and Rodriguez, carrying 19 kilograms of cocaine destined for Pittsburgh.

Assistant United States Attorneys Cindy K. Chung, Ryan Hart, and Eric S. Rosen prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Munhall Police Department, Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, Pennsylvania Attorney General, and the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Francisco Javier Campos-Ortega.