NJ Inmate Used Drone To Drop Contraband Into Prison: Feds

NEWARK, NJ — A former inmate at Fort Dix has admitted to helping to smuggle contraband into the federal prison using drones, federal authorities announced Monday.

Johansel Moronta, 29, of Linden, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to one count of possessing and obtaining contraband while in prison, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Moronta, who had been released from custody several months after the smuggling happened and was on federal supervised release, also pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his supervised release.

Moronta was an inmate at Fort Dix from April 2018 to March 2019, and participated in multiple drone deliveries of contraband into Fort Dix while incarcerated, authorities said.

Moronta admitted in court that on Oct. 30, 2018, he received a bag dropped by a drone onto the roof of a housing unit at FCI Fort Dix which contained contraband tobacco, cellphone chargers and charging cables. Prison officials recovered that bag which contained 127 bags of Bugler tobacco, 10 cell phone chargers and 10 USB charging cables. Moronta also admitted to possessing a contraband cell phone on that date, which he had used to coordinate the drone drop.

Authorities said that between October 2018 and June 2019, Moronta took possession of contraband packages that were flown by drones over Fort Dix by two men, Adrian Goolcharran and Nicolo Denichilo, with the flights arranged by Jason Arteaga-Loayza, authorities said.

Moronta then helped sell the contraband, which also included weight loss supplements, eyeglasses, and various other items, and helped coordinate inmate requests for specific items of contraband and assisted in the collection of payments, officials said.

Goolcharran and Denichilo have been charged in the scheme, authorities said. Arteaga-Loayza pleaded guilty in April 2021 and is awaiting sentencing.

Goolcharran and Denichilo took various steps to prevent prison officials from detecting and intercepting the contraband, flying the drone late in the evening or overnight in the dark so the drones were harder to see and covered the lights on the drones with tape to conceal them further.

Goolcharran, the drone pilot, with Denichilo’s assistance, flew the drones from concealed positions in the woods surrounding the prison, authorities allege.

Moronta and his conspirators used cell phones, including contraband phones concealed within the prison, to coordinate the drone drops, authorities said. They found text messages between Moronta and Arteaga-Loayza about the collection of profits from the sale of the contraband on one of the contraband phones that Moronta used.

In one exchange, Moronta messaged Arteaga-Loayza about an inmate, "Ok so I am tell him 10 phones and 100 baco [i.e. tobacco] he has to pay 10 bands and 500 on each phone?" Arteaga-Loayza responded, "And well (sic) even give him an ounce of weed tell him."

During a search of Arteaga-Loayza’s residence on June 27, 2019, agents found a kitchen closet containing packages of empty cell phone boxes, including a package with empty cell phone boxes that had been shipped to Arteaga-Loayza the day before the drone drop of Oct. 30, 2018, cell phone chargers, empty boxes of SIM cards, and several cell phones.

Moronta also admitted to physically assaulting his girlfriend in June of 2021 while at a gas station in Fort Lee, after his release from federal prison.

Moronta faces up to a year in prison and maximum fine of $100,000 for the plea to possession of contraband while being a federal inmate. He agreed to a 14-month term for violating the terms of his supervised release by assaulting his girlfriend, and that will be served consecutively to whatever term of imprisonment he receives for the contraband charge.

Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 10, authorities said.

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