Skip to main content
Press Release

Reading Man Pleads Guilty To Participating In Monroe County-Based Heroin Conspiracy

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania

     The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 57-year-old Reading, Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani to participating in a heroin trafficking conspiracy.

     According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Richard Carvajal, admitted to conspiring with others in Monroe County, Berks County, and elsewhere in 2012 and 2013, to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin.

     Carvajal was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2013, and subsequently charged in a superseding indictment in March 2014.  The charge against Carvajal resulted from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and Berks County Detectives.

     Carvajal faces a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Sentencing was scheduled for January  2015.

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

Updated April 9, 2015