22-Year-Old Arizona Man Sentenced To Prison For Part In Large-Scale Narcotics & Money Laundering Organization

Tuesday, August 13, 2024, 12:45 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

JOHNSTOWN, PA.- Last Thursday, a 22-year-old Phoenix, Arizona man appeared in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for his role in a transnational drug trafficking and money laundering operation.

     According to U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan, on Thursday, August 8, 2024, Jairo Morales, 22, of Phoenix, Arizona, appeared in court and was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson to 180 months in federal prison for his conviction of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Fentanyl, and Methamphetamine, and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.

     Morales was one of thirty-five defendants who were charged in a Second Superseding Indictment that was unsealed in January 2024 for their roles in a domestic and international narcotics and money laundering conspiracy that involved large quantities of illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine that were distributed throughout the western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio area.

     According to documents filed with the court, beginning in and around August 2021 through June 2023, Morales, in the Western District of Pennsylvania, conspired with others to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, 400 grams or more of fentanyl, and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

     Further, from and around April 2022 through March 2023, Morales conspired with others to commit money laundering. Morales was intercepted on a federal court-authorized wiretap, obtaining large quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine that he distributed to others.

     The court found that Morales was responsible for conspiring to distribute 16.5 pounds of cocaine; 182.6 pounds of fentanyl; and 188.2 pounds of methamphetamine and that Morales possessed firearms in connection with the narcotics activity.

     U.S. Attorney Olhan commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Laurel Highlands Resident Agency and Homeland Security Investigations for the investigation that led to Morales’s arrest and successful prosecution.