Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that a drug trafficker was sentenced to state prison today in connection with the seizure of five pounds of crystal methamphetamine by the Atlantic City Task Force (ACTF) and its federal law enforcement partners in 2016.
According to authorities, Sandra Y. Parra-Quintero, 28, of Hermosillo, Mexico, was sentenced to seven years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Benjamin Podolnick in Atlantic County. She pleaded guilty last month to a charge of second-degree possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Her co-defendant, Eder M. Gonzalez, 28, of South Gate, Calif., was sentenced on May 18 to 10 years in state prison after pleading guilty to first-degree possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
The defendants were arrested in an investigation by the Atlantic City Task Force and ICE Homeland Security Investigations Cherry Hill Office, assisted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and the New Jersey State Police TEAMS South Unit.
“The Atlantic City Task Force and its federal partners continue to investigate and prosecute drug traffickers bringing major supplies of narcotics into Atlantic City and its surrounding communities,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Methamphetamine destroys lives, and each time we take out a major supplier like this defendant, we make our communities safer.”
The partnering agencies developed information that the two defendants were transporting a large quantity of methamphetamine and would be delivering it to a location in Camden on August 9, 2016. Officers and agents had the location under surveillance when Gonzalez and Parra-Quintero arrived in a Volkswagen Jetta with Mexican plates. Gonzalez used tools to disassemble the dashboard and remove nine packages wrapped in black duct tape.
According to officials, law enforcement then converged on the vehicle and arrested the defendants without incident. The packages contained approximately five pounds of crystal methamphetamine, with a street value of $40,000.