Drug Trafficker Sentenced for Distributing Kilograms of Heroin in Cecil County and other States

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Orlando Nunez DeLeon, a/k/a “Alberto Ando,” age 37, of New York today to four years in prison followed by two years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a kilogram or more of heroin, in connection with a distribution ring that operated in Cecil County, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Special Agent in Charge David G. Dongilli, Philadelphia Division of the DEA; Cecil County Sheriff Scott Adams; Chief Matthew Donnelly of the Elkton Police Department; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Cecil County State’s Attorney Ellis Rollins; and Colonel Nathaniel McQueen, Jr. of the Delaware State Police.

According to his plea agreement, from at least January 2013, DeLeon’s co-conspirators obtained bulk kilogram quantities of heroin from a Pennsylvania-based distributor and others. Co-conspirator Jorge Ayala-Pizzaro and others took the heroin to an apartment in New York where DeLeon and up to 10 others cut it and re-packaged it for sale to customers in Maryland and Delaware, including Rachine Garnett.

Beginning in January 2013, the Cecil County Drug Enforcement Task Force and DEA obtained a court-authorized wiretap on phones used by DeLeon’s co-conspirators. DeLeon is overheard in numerous conversations discussing: the labeling of heroin and its quality; preparing the heroin for customers; the people working to cut the heroin; and the transportation of the heroin.

On August 15, 2013, investigators executed a search warrant at an apartment in the Bronx, New York, where they found DeLeon and several others. They seized over a kilogram of heroin, some of which had already been repackaged into logs and some of which was in the process of being packaged. Over the course of the conspiracy, DeLeon knew that members of the conspiracy would distribute at least 10 kilograms of heroin.

Approximately 100 agents and officers from 11 law enforcement agencies assisted in the arrests of the defendants and searches of residences and vehicles associated with the defendants in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York on August 15, 2013. Six co-defendants have pleaded guilty to their participation in the drug conspiracy, including Rachine Huron Garnett, a/k/a “Sheen,” “Red,” “Ray,” and “Blockhead, age 38, of Elkton, Maryland; and Michael Roberts, a/k/a “Spook,”, age 37,of New Castle, Delaware; and Jorge Ayala-Pizzaro, Jr., age 25, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Garnett, Roberts and Ayala-Pizzaro were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for their roles in the conspiracy.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the DEA, Cecil County Drug Task Force, and Delaware State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein also recognized the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the District of Delaware, Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York and the New York Police Department for their assistance. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Kenneth S. Clark and James G. Warwick, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.