TRENTON, N.J. - Valerie A. Nickerson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, and Craig Carpenito, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced a Bronx, New York, man pleaded guilty today for transporting 15 kilograms of heroin on Christmas Eve in 2014.
Vionel Rondon Cortorreal, 29, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute heroin.
In December 2014, Rondon Cortorreal engaged in a conspiracy with members of a drug trafficking organization to transport and distribute kilogram quantities of heroin. On Dec. 24, 2014, Rondon Cortorreal was arrested after law enforcement seized 15 kilograms of heroin from a hidden compartment in the vehicle that he and another conspirator, Dany Francisco-Valerio, 44, of Bronx, were operating.
The narcotics charge to which Rondon Cortorreal pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 30, 2018.
Francisco-Valerio previously pleaded guilty to the same charge before Judge Sheridan on Oct. 26, 2017 and awaits sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Valerie Nickerson in Newark, and officers of the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Acting Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
