The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a 33-year-old Reading man pleaded guilty today before Senior U.S. District Court Judge A. Richard Caputo to participating in a cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy in 2011.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Jose Sandoval-Martinez admitted to conspiring with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. The conspiracy spread across Berks, Dauphin, and Schuylkill Counties during 2011.

     Sandoval-Martinez was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 8, 2011, as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)and the Pennsylvania State Police.

     The plea agreement, if accepted by the court, calls for Sandoval-Martinez to be sentenced to 10 years in prison. As a Mexican national, Sandoval-Martinez also faces possible deportation as a result of the guilty plea. Judge Caputo scheduled sentencing for November 1, 2012.

     The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.

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