Heroin Dealer Locked up for 6 Years After Guilty Plea

After a sentencing hearing Friday, a Camden man who was indicted in 2011 as part of a 28-member drug ring will spend six years in state prison.

Luis Cuevas, 30, admitted to selling heroin to an undercover detective in August 2010 near Dudley Grange Park in Camden as part of a guilty plea to a second-degree charge of drug distribution within 500 feet of a public park.

Cuevas’ conviction comes just two days after another alleged member of the ring, Reynel “Mito” Delvalle, 35, of Camden, pleaded guilty to racketeering for allegedly selling an assault rifle and heroin to an undercover officer.

The indictment against Cuevas and the other defendants came about as a result of Operation Jumpstart, a joint investigation that spanned local, state and national agencies, including the Cherry Hill Police Department, and which targeted a drug network that authorities said stretched between Puerto Rico and Camden.

The alleged ringleader, Luis Burgos, 34, of Camden, was part of that 28-person indictment. Authorities said he shipped large quantities of cocaine via commercial airlines from Puerto Rico to Newark, NJ, and New York, with all of it earmarked for distribution around Camden. Burgos faces life in prison if convicted.

Eighteen of the defendants have been charged with money laundering, and seven of them—including Burgos—have been charged with first-degree drug distribution. Those charges carry a maximum of 20 years in state prison upon conviction.