14 in Rockland Heroin, Oxycodone Ring Plead Guilty

Fourteen of 17 defendants in a federal case against the big oxycodone and heroin ring busted in Rockland County in March pleaded guilty today in White Plains.

More than $1 million in oxycodone was trafficked by the organization. Forged prescriptions were manufactured and filled by members and affiliates of the drug ring in pharmacies across New York State. They even posed as doctors if a pharmacist called. Oxycodone prescriptions are valuable because the pills can be resold for so much money.

They also sold heroin. Drug enforcement officials say people addicted to opiods like oxycodone are now turning to heroin because it is cheaper.

“This was a large and ongoing drug dealing conspiracy which did great harm to many people, including dozens of Rockland County residents,” said Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe in a prepared statement. “This case and its 14 guilty pleas are prime examples of how cooperation among federal and local law enforcement can lead to the dismantling of a significant drug trafficking organization that pushed poison into our neighborhoods.”

SEE: UPDATE: ‘Massive’ Oxycodone and Heroin Ring Busted in Rockland County

Guilty pleas came from:

• VICTOR ESTEBAN, 27, of the Bronx, NY; Pomona, NY; Middletown, NY
• JUAN AGRAMONTE, 50, Bronx, NY
• MIGUEL CABRERA, 26, Haverstraw, NY
• EDWIN CEBALLOS, 27, New York, NY
• ROMELLO DELOATCH, 21, Spring Valley, NY
• ANDREW FLORES, 27, New City, NY
• ROLANDO GARCIA, 21, Garnerville, NY
• WESLEY JACKSON, 28, Newburgh, NY
• ELOM KALEDZI, 32, New City, NY
• CHRISTIAN MINAYA, 21, Garnerville, NY
• BRANDON MORILLO, 22, New York, NY
• RAMON MORILLO, 30, New York, NY
• JIMMY RODRIGUEZ, 23, Spring Valley, NY
• BRANDON THOMAS, 21, Pomona, NY

They will be sentenced in May.

Here’s the full statement:

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Thomas Zugibe, Rockland County District Attorney, James Hunt, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and Ed Day, Rockland County Executive, announced that 14 defendants pled guilty today to conspiring to distribute oxycodone and heroin in and around Rockland County.

On March 25, 2015, an indictment was unsealed charging 17 defendants with conspiring to distribute oxycodone and heroin. The case was assigned to District Judge Kenneth M. Karas. Today, 14 of the defendants pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy. The prosecution against the remaining defendants is ongoing.

U.S. Attorney Bharara stated: “The abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin continues to plague too many of our communities. As they have now admitted through their guilty pleas, these defendants capitalized on this deadly epidemic, working together to distribute massive quantities of oxycodone in Rockland County. Several also trafficked in large quantities of heroin. Prescription pill and heroin abuse is on the rise, but so are law enforcement efforts to stem it. Thanks to the outstanding work of the DEA and our local law enforcement partners, this operation that helped to fuel Rockland County’s heroin and prescription pill problem has been dismantled.”

District Attorney Zugibe stated: “This was a large and ongoing drug dealing conspiracy which did great harm to many people, including dozens of Rockland County residents. This case and its 14 guilty pleas are prime examples of how cooperation among federal and local law enforcement can lead to the dismantling of a significant drug trafficking organization that pushed poison into our neighborhoods.”

DEA SAC Hunt stated: “In 2014, there were 47,055 drug overdose deaths; 28,647 deaths, or 61%, involved opioids. The abuse of diverted pain medication and heroin are destroying lives and enabling drug traffickers to make a toxic profit off addiction. Last March, law enforcement combined resources to identify and arrest 14 of Rockland’s most treacherous opioid drug traffickers, resulting in today’s 14 guilty pleas.”

County Executive Day said: “These criminals trafficked over 50,000 oxycodone pills and significant amounts of heroin, and in the process destroyed countless lives. The nationwide prescription drug and heroin epidemic is fueled by organizations just like this one. The success of this probe is attributed to the ongoing partnership between Rockland County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment and other documents in the public record:

The defendants were part of a sophisticated drug trafficking organization (the “Organization”) that operated in the area of Rockland County, New York. The Organization, led by defendant VICTOR ESTEBAN, distributed massive quantities of oxycodone and heroin, often in highly public locations, including at the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, New York.

Since 2014, members and associates of the Organization have conspired to distribute more than 50,000 oxycodone tablets, with a value in excess of $1 million, in and around Rockland County. The defendants obtained the oxycodone through deceptive means, including the use of forged and fraudulent prescriptions. The defendants also employed lower-level members of the Organization, known as “runners,” to go to pharmacies across New York State to fill the fraudulent prescriptions.

The principal supplier of heroin to the Organization was JUAN AGRAMONTE, who was based in the Bronx. ESTEBAN pooled money with other defendants to purchase significant quantities of heroin from AGRAMONTE, which they then distributed in locations around Rockland County.

The defendants distributed oxycodone and heroin in a multitude of public places. They sold these illicit drugs in the parking lots of the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, New York, at the Mt. Ivy Trailer Park in Pomona, New York, and in various motels around Rockland County, where they would rent rooms to meet with customers.

Certain defendants also celebrated their oxycodone and heroin trafficking activity on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. Some of the defendants referred to themselves as the “TMC” crew, meaning “Too Much Cash.” For example, on one occasion, a defendant posted a message on Twitter saying, “Shout out my TMC bros we taking over the streets.” On another occasion, a defendant posted a message on Twitter saying, “I make money without a 9-5 gimmie some feens a trap fone and I’ll be fine . . . ,” meaning that he did not need a legitimate job, but rather only some drug addicts and a “trap phone” with which to arrange drug deals. This defendant also posted a message saying, “The feds just wanna see me in jail.”

* * *Defendants VICTOR ESTEBAN, ANDREW FLORES, CHRISTIAN MINAYA, EDWIN CEBALLOS, JIMMY RODRIGUEZ, and ELOM KALEDZI pled guilty to conspiring to distribute oxycodone and heroin. Defendants MIGUEL CABRERA, ROMELLO DELOATCH, ROLANDO GARCIA, WESLEY JACKSON, BRANDON MORILLO, RAMON MORILLO, and BRANDON THOMAS pled guilty to conspiring to distribute oxycodone. Defendant JUAN AGRAMONTE pled guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin. The charges to which the defendants pled guilty, and the maximum penalties they face, are set forth in a chart below. Also set forth below is a chart with the defendants’ names, ages, and residences. The defendants will be sentenced before Judge Karas in May 2016.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Tactical Diversion Squad (Group TDS-NY), which comprises agents and officers from the DEA, the New York State Police, the New York City Police Department, Town of Orangetown Police Department, and the Westchester County Police Department.

He also thanked the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office for its participation, and the Internal Revenue Service for its assistance.The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Turner and Douglas Zolkind are in charge of the prosecution.