Drug Smuggler Busted In Delco Gets 11 Years In Prison

TINICUM, PA — A man who ran an international cocaine trafficking operation was sentenced to prison after being busted in Delaware County in 2018.

Federal authorities said Delgardo Frazer, 52, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced to 11 years and three months prison, and four years of supervised release for organizing and leading an international cocaine trafficking operation which was discovered and dismantled in 2018.

In April, Frazer pleaded guilty to all counts in a Superseding Indictment charging him with intent to distribute fentanyl, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The charges stemmed from an incident during which Frazer was arrested near Philadelphia International Airport in connection with drug smuggling.

For his illicit trafficking organization, Frazer recruited and paid several young women from Arizona to serve as "drug mules," who would travel at his behest to various Caribbean locations and then deliver suitcases containing kilos of cocaine to him in Philadelphia, and to his conspirators in Orlando, Florida.

As part of the trafficking conspiracy, Frazer also distributed fake oxycodone pills which, in fact, contained fentanyl.

The operation came to an end in July 2018, when one of the "drug mules," after traveling a circuitous route through the Caribbean, was stopped by federal agents at PHL with two suitcases containing over 4 kilograms of cocaine.

Frazer was waiting at a nearby hotel in Essington, to pick her up at the airport.

When he learned that she was stopped by law enforcement, he told her on a phone call to take a cab to the nearest cheap hotel, and at the same time he packed up and abandoned the hotel room five days ahead of schedule.

Frazer was unaware that the woman was with federal agents who overheard that call.

Frazer drove out of the hotel parking lot quickly, and a Tinicum Township police officer on routine patrol observe him commit multiple traffic violations.

The officer stopped Frazer and searched his vehicle at an on-ramp to Interstate-95, at which point approximately 485 fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl were found in the gas cap, and a semi-automatic 9 mm Luger handgun loaded with 12 live rounds was found in the trunk.

Frazer had a prior felony drug conviction in Arizona and was therefore not permitted to possess a firearm.