California Man Found Guilty On Narcotics Trafficking Charges

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JUAN PABLO ARREOLA was found guilty yesterday of conspiring to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin.  ARREOLA was convicted after a four-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman. 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said:  “As a jury unanimously found in convicting him, Juan Pablo Arreola flooded the streets of New York with more than 40 kilograms of heroin in the span of just three years.  Arreola now stands convicted of profiting from the destructive heroin and opioid epidemic that has afflicted too many of our communities.” 

According to the evidence introduced at trial, other proceedings in this case, and documents previously filed in Manhattan federal court:

Between 2013 and August 2015, ARREOLA conspired with others to traffic in excess of 40 kilograms of heroin from California to New York.  ARREOLA and other members of the drug trafficking organization shipped heroin via the mail, with the heroin hidden in protein powder containers, and via a long-haul trucking company, with the heroin hidden in copy machines and stereo boxes. 

*               *               *

ARREOLA, 37, of Compton, California, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, and a maximum sentence of life in prison.  The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. 

Sentencing is scheduled for October 27, 2016, before Judge Berman. 

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, which comprises officers of the DEA, the New York City Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the New York State Police, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshal Service, New York National Guard, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, the Clarkstown Police Department, Port Washington Police Department, and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.  The Strike Force is partially funded by the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), which is a federally funded crime fighting initiative. 

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Robert W. Allen and Rebekah Donaleski are in charge of the prosecution.