Source: United States Department of Justice News
NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man today admitted leading a drug trafficking organization that operated out of a drug mill located in the Bronx, New York, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.
Luis Cabrera, 37, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. Five other individuals have previously pleaded guilty to charges arising from this investigation: Pedro Acosta Ramos, 34; Rodolfo Antonio Acosta Liriano, 38; Johan Manuel Lopez Brito, 35; Humberto Antonio Rodriguez, 35; and Julian Brito Sanchez, 50.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From 2019 to June 2020, Cabrera was a leader of a drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine to customers in New Jersey and elsewhere. He operated a drug mill in an apartment located in the Bronx, New York. On June 30, 2020, law enforcement searched the mill and recovered heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. The quantity of heroin amounted to 8,650 individual doses. Law enforcement seized the drug trafficking organization’s distribution materials, including glassine baggies, tape, scales, cutting agents to mix with narcotics to increase their weight and value, and stamps for the branding of the drugs. Cabrera was at the mill during the search and was arrested. On previous occasions, Cabrera met with conspirators in New Jersey and also purchased supplies for the mill in New Jersey.
Cabrera faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 24, 2023.
U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard W. Reinhold, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Calle of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.