California Man Sentenced In NJ Drug, Money Laundering Scheme

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ-- A California man was sentenced in connection to a drug and money laundering scheme that brought large amounts of cocaine and cash in and out of New Jersey.

Belarmino Amaya, 58, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, and money laundering. His partner, Carlos Mario Mejia, was arrested for money laundering, and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012.

“Two separate arrests, one by federal agents and another by the New Jersey State Police, revealed that Amaya was moving multiple kilo quantities of cocaine and millions of dollars in illicit profits across the United States,” said Attorney General Porrino. “These were outstanding busts that targeted a major transnational cocaine supply line.”

Amaya had been using a large truck to transport multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine across the country and into New Jersey. Agents approached Amaya in December 2014 in a motel off of Route 78 in Little Ferry, where he admitted to having cocaine in the truck.

Agents found 21 kilograms of cocaine hidden in both sides of the trailer.

“Amaya was fueling addiction and supplying the violent drug trade in our communities by trafficking huge quantities of narcotics into New Jersey,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We’ll continue to work with our law enforcement partners at all levels to lock up major drug suppliers like this defendant.”

The money laundering charges stemmed from a January 2009 arrest, when Amaya and Mejia after they were found with $1.2 in cash in a tractor owned by Mejia.

Police began tracking the trailer on Kearny on suspicion it was tied to money laundering. They pulled the truck over on US 1 & 9 approaching the Turnpike, before the Edison Toll Plaza.

Agents searched the truck after the two gave conflicting reports on their travels. The cash was hidden inside the sleeper compartment.

This was a large, multi-agency operation, including the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Criminal and Tax Divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice and other state and local agencies.

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