NEWARK, N.J. – A New York, man was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for his participation in a heroin mill located in the Bronx, New York, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Johan Manuel Lopez Brito, 34, of the Bronx, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. Judge Cecchi imposed the sentence today by videoconference.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Between 2019 and June 2020, Lopez Brito conspired with others to distribute heroin and other drugs to customers in New Jersey and elsewhere. Lopez Brito worked at the mill packaging narcotics for distribution. On June 30, 2020, law enforcement searched the organization’s mill in the Bronx and recovered heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. The quantity of heroin alone amounted to approximately 8,650 individual doses. Law enforcement seized the drug trafficking organization’s distribution materials, including glassines, tape, scales, cutting agents to mix with narcotics to increase their weight and value, and stamps for the branding of the drugs. Lopez Brito was at the mill during the search and was arrested.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Cecchi sentenced Lopez Brito to three years of supervised release.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jason J. Molina, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Calle of the Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.
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