Bergen County, New Jersey, Man Sentenced to 162 Months in Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute More Than Three Kilograms of Heroin in Paterson

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 162 months in prison for purchasing more than three kilograms of heroin from a source in Bronx, New York, and re-selling it to drug dealers in Paterson, New Jersey, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Edwin Lopez, a/k/a “E,” a/k/a “Pan,” 31, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to information charging him with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From June 2015 to May 2016, Lopez and others allegedly participated in a drug trafficking organization that amassed wholesale quantities of heroin at multiple locations around Bronx and used couriers to deliver large quantities of heroin to mid-level drug dealers in Paterson. The heroin was either sold in the Paterson area or redistributed to street-level drug dealers in suburban areas, including Morris County, New Jersey, and Rockland County, New York.

Lopez admitted he participated in this conspiracy from June 2015 until his arrest on April 19, 2016. He admitted that at the time of his arrest, he was giving a $13,500 payment to one of Goris-Castellano’s couriers in exchange for the 150 bricks of heroin.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Lopez to five years of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara F. Merin of the OCDETF/Narcotics Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.

This case was brought under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.