Chesapeake Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Drug Conspiracy

NORFOLK, Va. – German Alvarado Ponce, aka Herman Alvaniz, 37, of Chesapeake, Virginia, was sentenced today to 240 months in prison, followed by five of supervised release on a drug conspiracy charge.

Ponce and five co-defendants were indicted Dec. 17, 2014, and have all pleaded guilty.   According to court documents, Ponce led a drug trafficking ring that distributed in excess of 100 kilograms of cocaine in Chesapeake and Portsmouth, Virginia.  The DEA conducted a 40-day wiretap of Ponce’s phones, and in July 2014 conducted a takedown of the six charged defendants which resulted in the seizure of 5.5 kilograms of cocaine and over $197,000.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

This case was investigated by the DEA’s Washington Office with the assistance of the Chesapeake Police Department, and was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF).  The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darryl J. Mitchell prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:14-cr-119.

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