Guatemalan National Sentenced To 57 Months’ Imprisonment For Transporting Heroin

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Cesar Moscoso-Sagastume, age 39, of Esquipulas, Guatemala, was sentenced on June 11, 2020 to serve 57 months’ imprisonment by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani, for his role in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Moscoso-Sagastume previously pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy during February 2018. Moscoso-Sagastume admitted that he agreed to transport approximately five kilograms of heroin (which is equivalent to approximately 200,000 individual retail baggies) from Chicago to New York City. The heroin was transported from Mexico to Chicago where it was placed in the his vehicle. Moscoso-Sagastume was stopped by Pennsylvania State Troopers on Interstate 80 while traveling to New York City.

Moscoso-Sagastume will likely face deportation after serving his prison sentence.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pennsylvania State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.

This case was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This case was also brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordin effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

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