New Jersey Man Imprisoned For Trafficking In Canadian Marijuana

The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Jesus Escobar, 34, of Hawthorne, NJ, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington to ten months of imprisonment following his guilty plea that he conspired to distribute marijuana.  U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss also ordered that he serve a two-year term of supervised release following completion of his prison term.  The court directed Escobar to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on September 3 to begin serving his sentence.

On April 5, Escobar pled guilty to an information charging that beginning in no later than 2016 and continuing through June 2017, Escobar conspired with others to distribute marijuana that had been smuggled into the United States from Canada.  Escobar communicated with his Canadian suppliers using encrypted Blackberry devices.  Members of the organization smuggled the marijuana into Vermont on foot.  Runners then picked up the drugs and distributed them to customers of the conspiracy, including Escobar.  Other customers were in Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.  In March 2017, an individual who was cooperating with the DEA Task Force participated in a controlled delivery to Escobar in New Jersey.  During this exchange, Escobar received a replacement Blackberry from his Canadian suppliers and in exchange Escobar gave the cooperating individual more than $59,000 in cash to pay for previously-delivered marijuana.  In his plea agreement, Escobar admitted that he distributed between 20 and 40 kilograms of marijuana. 

Escobar is represented by Frank Twarog.  The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.