Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Philadelphia man was sentenced to state prison today for distributing a kilogram of cocaine to an undercover officer at the Deptford Mall in Gloucester County. He was arrested during an investigation by the Atlantic City Task Force into a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Atlantic City.
Eduardo Colon-Lopez, 37, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison, including 30 months of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr. in Atlantic County.
He pleaded guilty on Aug. 4 to a charge of first-degree distribution of cocaine, which was contained in a March 25, 2015 indictment returned by an Atlantic County grand jury. Colon-Lopez was arrested on Sept. 20, 2014, in the parking lot of the Deptford Mall as the result of an investigation by the Atlantic City Task Force (ACTF), which includes members of state, county, local and federal law enforcement agencies.
He had been in the Atlantic County Jail since his arrest, with bail set at $250,000.
Colon-Lopez’s arrest was part of an investigation by the Atlantic City Task Force into a conspiracy to distribute bulk quantities of cocaine in Atlantic City. Up until his arrest, Colon-Lopez was known to the ACTF only as “Papito.” To apprehend him, members of the ACTF initiated an undercover investigation through which they arranged for Colon-Lopez to sell a kilogram of cocaine for $40,000 to an undercover member of the New Jersey State Police.
Colon-Lopez agreed to complete the sale at a location in Atlantic City, but at the last minute, the location was changed to the Deptford Mall.
Members of the State Police TEAMS (Technical Emergency and Mission Specialists) Unit arrested Colon-Lopez in the mall parking lot on the morning of Sept. 20, 2014, after he delivered a black duffel bag containing a plastic-wrapped kilo brick of cocaine to the undercover officer.