NEWARK, N.J. - A federal jury today found a Paterson, New Jersey, man guilty of two counts of drug trafficking offenses, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Reinaldo Rodriguez, 30, a/k/a “Memo," and “Killa," was convicted of conspiracy to distribute a kilogram or more of heroin and possession with the intent to distribute heroin following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence presented at trial:
From June 2015 through April 20, 2016, Rodriguez participated in a conspiracy to distribute heroin to street-level drug dealers in the Paterson area. The conspirators obtained their heroin from a supplier in Bronx, New York, where it was packaged and stamped “Goosebumps," “Transformers," “Wendy’s" and “New Jack City," designating the source. Law enforcement officials conducted surveillance while Rodriguez delivered stamped “bricks" of heroin to a confidential source. Rodriguez was heard discussing drug trafficking on court-authorized wiretaps.
Rodriguez faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison for the conspiracy count.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents and task force officers of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson, and the Paterson Police Department, with the investigation leading to today’s conviction.
This case was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies dedicated to identifying and dismantling the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations.
The government is represented by Senior Trial Counsel Jamie L. Hoxie of the OCDETF/Narcotics Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Suchorsky of the Organized Crime/Gangs Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
