Leader Of Meth Trafficking Conspiracy Sentenced To 17 Years In Prison

 

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JEREMY ORTIZ-MOLINA was sentenced to 204 months in prison today for leading a conspiracy to traffic eight kilograms of methamphetamine to New York City.  U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “The sentence today reaffirms our judicial system’s unflinching commitment to hold narcotics traffickers accountable.  Methamphetamine promotes violence, ruins lives, and destroys families.  The defendant sought to profit from trafficking significant quantities of this horrific drug and will be justly punished.”

According to court filings and statements made in court proceedings:

In or about February 2021, ORTIZ-MOLINA led a conspiracy to traffic wholesale quantities of methamphetamine from Florida to New York City.  ORTIZ-MOLINA supervised his codefendants DEREK ORTIZ SOCIAS (who is ORTIZ-MOLINA’s son) and PEDRO ROSARIO CARRASQUILLO.

ORTIZ-MOLINA personally negotiated the sale of eight kilograms of methamphetamine for $8,500 per kilogram to a confidential source and then directed ORTIZ SOCIAS and ROSARIO CARRASQUILLO to deliver those drugs to Manhattan inside a trailer.  To conceal their crime, the defendants also loaded motorcycles into the trailer, as part of a cover story that they were making the trip to sell motorcycles.  The bricks of methamphetamine, which laboratory tests determined to be approximately 99 percent pure, were hidden inside a trap in the trailer. 

After his codefendants were arrested, ORTIZ-MOLINA continued trying to sell kilogram quantities of methamphetamine to the confidential source and also offered to sell heroin.  A search of ORTIZ-MOLINA’s phones revealed additional evidence of narcotics trafficking.

Codefendant ROSARIO CARRASQUILLO was previously sentenced to 96 months in prison and codefendant ORTIZ SOCIAS’s case is pending.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA, New York State Police, and NYPD.  The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant United States Attorney Jun Xiang is in charge of the prosecution.