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US judge sentences 17 in heroin, cocaine ring
CLEVELAND
A federal judge has sentenced 17 defendants in a heroin- and cocaine- trafficking conspiracy that sold the drugs on Youngstown’s East Side and in Campbell.
U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster pronounced sentence on them Tuesday. One defendant drew a 10-year prison term. All other defendants drew prison terms of less than five years, or they were placed on probation.
The defendants were among 25 Youngstown-area residents named in a 61-count federal indictment issued by a grand jury last June. All have entered guilty pleas to one or more counts in the indictment.
An additional 37 defendants were indicted on state charges ranging from drug possession to heroin trafficking.
Judge Polster sentenced the suspected ringleader, Luis Angel Martinez, 33, of Youngstown, to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine, said Linda H. Barr, an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. He’ll be on supervised release for eight years after he leaves prison.
Martinez would obtain heroin from sources in Youngstown, New York City and Buffalo, N.Y., and distribute it to lower- level dealers for sale in the Youngstown area, the indictment says.
Lower-level dealers would take turns staffing a cellular telephone Martinez used for drug distribution, the indictment adds.
Wiretaps on phones used by the dealers played a major role in the investigation, said Bob Balzano, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
The investigation was labeled “Operation Deja Vu” because Martinez served 18 months in prison on similar charges arising from a 2004 investigation.
Placed on three years’ probation were Alexis Infante and Edgardo Esteras-Diaz, with Infante to perform 50 hours of community service and Diaz 100 hours. Also placed on three years’ probation was Carlos Cuevas-Garcia.
Last week, Judge Polster sentenced Duniek Christian, 27, of North Garland Avenue, to 18 months in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine.
Christian awaits a May 21 retrial by jury before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in a 2005 rolling gunbattle with police on Youngstown’s East Side.
In August 2008, a jury deadlocked on whether Christian was guilty of complicity to felonious assault in that case.