Skip to main content
Press Release

New Jersey Heroin Supplier Sentenced to 21+ Years in Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A former resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey, has been sentenced in federal court to a term of imprisonment of 21 years and 10 months, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of one kilogram or more of heroin, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

Senior Judge Reggie B. Walton of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia imposed the sentence on Aldwin Vega, 43.

According to information presented during a jury trial, between the fall of 2011 and January of 2013, Vega supplied heroin to his co-conspirators who then made between 12 and 20 trips from New Jersey to Pittsburgh to distribute heroin. On January 30, 2013, a co-conspirator drove to Pittsburgh from New Jersey with 700 bricks of heroin. He placed the heroin under a bed at the Comfort Inn located in Robinson Township, PA, where he and another co-conspirator were staying. On January 31, 2013, law enforcement executed a search warrant on the hotel room. A search of the hotel room revealed 519 bricks (approximately 200 had already been sold) of heroin, which were found underneath the bed. Subsequent laboratory tests revealed that Vega’s fingerprints were on the heroin found within the hotel room. During the course of the conspiracy, Vega supplied over one kilogram of heroin to his co-conspirators for distribution in Western Pennsylvania.

Assistant United States Attorney Shanicka L. Kennedy prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, City of Pittsburgh Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, McKeesport Police Department, Munhall Police Department, and the West Homestead Police Department conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution, conviction and sentencing of Aldwin Vega.

Updated December 17, 2018

Topic
Drug Trafficking