NEWARK, N.J. - A Paterson, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 37 months in prison for his role in a drug trafficking/money laundering organization that operated throughout northern New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Jhensel Jimenez-Taveras, 27, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence today.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
In April 2019, law enforcement officers observed Jimenez-Taveras engage in a suspected narcotics transaction in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Law enforcement officers stopped the vehicle that Jimenez-Taveras was operating and located $123,255 in cash. Further investigation revealed that Jimenez-Taveras was responsible for transferring large sums of U.S. currency on behalf of the drug trafficking/money laundering organization. Jimenez-Taveras acknowledged that these funds were the product of narcotics sales and that his intent in transporting the money was to fund additional narcotics activities.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Jimenez-Taveras to three years of supervised release. As part of his plea agreement, Jimenez-Taveras must also forfeit the $123,255 that was seized by law enforcement.
This case was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason Molina, and troopers with the New Jersey State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Barnes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office OCDETF/Narcotics Unit in Newark.
