Camden Man Sentenced to 140 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Distribute Large Amounts of Heroin, Cocaine and Crack

DOJ Press

CAMDEN, N.J. – A Camden man was sentenced to 140 months in prison for conspiring to distribute large amounts of heroin, cocaine, and crack in Camden, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Jose Diaz, 30, of Camden, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb to an information charging him with conspiracy to distribute one hundred grams or more of heroin as well as quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine. Judge Bumb imposed the sentence on April 28, 2022, in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Nineteen defendants were arrested in late 2018 on drug-trafficking charges based on the FBI’s investigation of a drug-trafficking organization that ran the open-air narcotics trade on the 400-500 block of Pine Street in Camden for several months in 2018. The organization included street-level sellers who were supervised by shift managers, who in turn were supervised by higher-level “runners.” Diaz admitted that he had a supervisory role as a shift manager, in the drug trafficking organization. The shift managers and runners supplied the sellers pre-packaged heroin, some of which was mixed with fentanyl, as well as cocaine and crack cocaine. The runners also collected drug proceeds from the shift managers and provided those proceeds to higher-level members of the conspiracy.


Seventeen of these defendants pleaded guilty before Judge Bumb to drug conspiracy charges. Two defendants are awaiting trial, which is scheduled for July 18, 2022. The charges and allegations against those two defendants are merely accusations, and they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.


In addition to the prison term, Judge Bumb sentenced Diaz to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Violent Offender and Gang Task Force, South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire; the Camden County Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gabriel Rodriguez; the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay; the Camden County Sherriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Gilbert L. Wilson; the Cherry Hill Police Department, under the direction of  Acting Chief of Police Larry Robb; and the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. He also thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Homeland Security for their assistance.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara Aliabadi and Patrick C. Askin of the U. S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

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