BOSTON – A Chicopee businessman and the former owner and operator of TWC Auto Body in Holyoke pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Springfield in connection with a cocaine and heroin conspiracy.
Jamil Roman, 44, of Chicopee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for March 23, 2022. Roman was indicted in March 2016 along with co-defendant Javier Gonzalez after their initial charge and arrest on March 26, 2014.
From January 2014 through March 2014, Roman and Gonzalez conspired to distribute four kilograms of cocaine in Western Massachusetts. Roman, who owns TWC Auto Body in Holyoke, admitted to meeting Gonzalez and conspiring to collect a debt owed for four kilograms of cocaine, which was part of a larger load that Gonzalez obtained from a Mexican supply source. On March 25, 2014, law enforcement seized approximately $1.17 million in cash from a hidden compartment inside a tractor trailer being driven by Gonzalez to Texas as payment for kilograms of heroin and cocaine.
On Oct. 4, 2021, Gonzalez was sentenced by Judge Mastroianni to 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Gonzalez was also ordered to pay a fine of $20,000.
The charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine provides for a sentence of at least five years and up to 40 years in prison, at least four years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of $20 million and restitution. Sentences are imposed based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mandell and Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil L. Desroches of Mendell’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
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