Union County Woman Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Trafficking Methamphetamine

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, woman was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for possessing with intent to distribute over 900 grams of methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Lorena Marquez, 48, of Union Township, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging her with one count of possession with intent to distribute over 50 grams of methamphetamine. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence by videoconference today; she sentenced Marquez to 108 months in prison on the drug count and 12 months in prison, to be served consecutively, for violation of supervised release.

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

In 2019, during a combined federal and local investigation targeting narcotics trafficking in northern New Jersey, law enforcement learned that Marquez stored and sold crystal methamphetamine at a self-storage facility in Jersey City. Law enforcement officials ultimately executed a search of Marquez’s storage unit and recovered approximately two pounds of crystal methamphetamine from the unit. Marquez was arrested the same day.

In addition to the prison term, Marquez was sentenced five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson, with the investigation and arrest.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan L. O’Neill of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit in Newark.