YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — An indictment unsealed Wednesday in the U.S. Northern District Court Of Ohio charges nine people with selling cocaine in Youngstown from Puerto Rico.
The nine are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and use of a communication facility in furtherance of a drug crime.
The nine are:
John Pena-Vazquez.
Jose Molina Torres.
Francisco Rosado-Cordero.
Jose Cintron-Feliciano.
Christopher Ramos-Burgos.
Erick Rosa-Martinez.
Wilfredo Delgado-Mulero.
Brendan Wolford.
Edwin Cintron-Baez.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not provide ages or addresses for the men.
Three of them — Delgado-Mulero, Rosa-Martinez and Pena-Vazquez, have already been arrested and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Parker. Delgado-Mulero is free on $20,000 unsecured bond while the other two are being held pending detention hearings next week before Judge Parker.
The nine are accused of bringing in cocaine from Puerto Rico and selling it in the Youngstown area between April 2020 and December.
The indictment said Rosado-Cordero and Rosa-Martinez supplied cocaine to Pena-Vazquez, who in turn gave it to Wilford and Cintron-Baez to sell in the Youngstown area.
The cocaine was bought in from Puerto Rico by Pena-Vazquez, Molina-Torres and Ramos-Burgos, the indictment said.
The indictment lists 33 separate telephone conversations between the members of the drug ring and a confidential source discussing drug transactions. It also details members mailing large amounts of cash, $82,000 in one case and $116,000 in another, to buy cocaine.
One of the defendants also had six guns at one point in the investigation, according to the indictment.
In of the tapped conversations, Pena-Vazquez tells the confidential source he is wary of being arrested and he also complains about the odor of all the cocaine he is lugging around.
“It stinks,” he told the source. “It smells real bad.”
The indictment said an ounce of cocaine typically sold for $1,050.