Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that three men were sentenced to state prison today on charges stemming from the seizure by the New Jersey State Police of nearly six pounds of methamphetamine in Kearny in 2014.
These men were sentenced today in Hudson County by Superior Court Judge Mitzy Galis-Menendez:
Juan Guerrero-Estrada, 31, of Olathe, Kansas, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison;
Juan Flores-Santos, 38, of Kansas City, Kansas, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison; and
Juan Perez-Nunez, 47, of The Bronx, N.Y., was sentenced to seven years in state prison.
On Jan. 16, 2015, the Division of Criminal Justice obtained a four-count state grand jury indictment charging the three defendants.
Perez-Nunez pleaded guilty on Sept. 1 to second-degree conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
Guerrero-Estrada and Flores-Santos were convicted at trial on Dec. 8 of first-degree distribution of methamphetamine, first-degree possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, second-degree conspiracy, and third-degree possession of methamphetamine.
Deputy Attorneys General Shontae Gray and Frank Morano tried Guerrero-Estrada and Flores-Santos and took the guilty plea from Perez-Nunez for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau. The charges stem from an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Trafficking North Unit.
The defendants were arrested on Oct. 22, 2014, when the New York man met the two men from Kansas in the parking lot of a Walmart in Kearny.
Members of the New Jersey State Police Trafficking North Unit were conducting surveillance at the site when they spotted a Mercedes Benz with a Kansas license plate occupied by Guerrero-Estrada and Flores-Santos that was parked in a remote area of the parking lot.
Later, the Mercedes slowly circled the parking lot and parked in a new location, where Perez-Nunez arrived driving a Honda Civic. The drivers spoke outside their cars, with the trunk of the Mercedes open, and Perez-Nunez repositioned the Honda, after which he allegedly pulled the Honda alongside the passenger side of the Mercedes.
At that point, a red-and-white plastic bag allegedly was tossed from the Mercedes into the rear window of the Honda. As both cars departed, they were stopped by state troopers. Perez-Nunez consented to a search of the Honda, where troopers found a red-and-white plastic bag containing nearly six pounds of crystal methamphetamine. The three men were then arrested.
Acting Attorney General Hoffman commended the members of the New Jersey State Police Trafficking North Unit for their investigation.