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Press Release

Luzerne County Man Sentenced To 78 Months In Prison For Heroin Trafficking And Illegal Reentry

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

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a citizen of the Dominican Republic who reentered the United States after being deported and resided in Luzerne County, was sentenced to 78 months in prison today by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Conaboy in Scranton, for distributing large quantities of heroin in the summer of 2014, and illegally reentering the country.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Edwin Guerrero-Guerrero, age 35, who resided in Hazleton under a false name and identity, pleaded guilty to the charges on September 15, 2015. Guerrero-Guerrero admitted to distributing and possessing with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of heroin, which is the equivalent of approximately 17,000 retail bags of heroin, after he had illegally reentered the United States.

Guerrero-Guerrero was charged in a criminal Information in August 2015, as a result of an investigation by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), immigration enforcement agents with the Department of Homeland Security, and Scranton Police.

Judge Conaboy also ordered Guerrero-Guerrero to be placed on four years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Guerrero-Guerrero also faces possible deportation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.

This case was 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.  

        

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Updated January 12, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking