Hazleton Man Sentenced To 144 Months’ Imprisonment For Drug Trafficking

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on May 28, 2020, Roberto Sanchez, age 42, formerly of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 144 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release by United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, for conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Sanchez pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin and crack cocaine in Pennsylvania from approximately 2013 through March 2015.  Sanchez admitted to trafficking in excess of five kilograms of cocaine and 10 kilograms of heroin, the latter of which is the equivalent of approximately 400,000 potentially fatal doses of heroin.

Sanchez was originally scheduled for sentencing in August 2017, but failed to appear.  He remained a fugitive until his apprehension, in New York, in March 2019, and has remained in custody since.  The United States seized and forfeited over $54,000 from Sanchez.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Phillip J. Caraballo and Sean A. Camoni prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This case also was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.