17 charged in connection with operation trafficking cocaine to Pittsburgh area from Puerto Rico
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (KDKA) -- More than a dozen people have been charged in connection with an operation trafficking "significant quantities" of cocaine from Puerto Rico to the Pittsburgh area.
Seventeen people from Lawrence County, Puerto Rico and Youngstown, Ohio, were indicted by a federal grand jury for violating federal narcotics, firearms and racketeering laws, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.
According to the two indictments just unsealed, the defendants conspired to distribute cocaine throughout the New Castle area and in Youngstown from September 2022 to March 2024.
Prosecutors said members would transport drugs from Puerto Rico to western Pennsylvania, Ohio and elsewhere either by mail or in person then distribute the drugs "as part of an ongoing illicit business enterprise."
"Today's indictments represent an important step toward dismantling a multi-state drug trafficking operation that brought significant quantities of cocaine from Puerto Rico to Western Pennsylvania and our neighbors in Ohio," U.S. Eric Attorney Olshan said in a news release.
"Together with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, we will continue to work collaboratively to keep our communities safe from drug traffickers and, in particular, those who choose to carry firearms in connection with their drug dealing."
The U.S. attorney's office said Lawrence County is one of six western Pennsylvania counties designated as a high intensity drug trafficking area by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. The designation allows it to receive dedicated federal resources to coordinate agencies in the fight against drug trafficking.
The DEA, Lawrence County's Drug Task Force and the United States Postal Inspection Service led the investigation with help from multiple other agencies.
The names of the 17 people charged as well as their charges are listed on the U.S. attorney's office's website.
