United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEWARK, N.J. - - Carl J. Kotowski, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, and William E. Fitzpatrick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey announced a Bergen County, New Jersey man today admitted purchasing more than three kilograms of heroin from a source in Bronx, New York, and re-selling it to drug dealers in Paterson, New Jersey.

Edwin Lopez, a/k/a “E,” a/k/a “Pan,” 31, of Elmwood Park, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to information charging him with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin.

From June 2015 to May 2016, Lopez, Juan Pablo Goris-Castellano, 26, of Bronx; Carolina Almonte, 29, of Bronx; Charlie Rodriguez, 33, of Paterson; Reinaldo Rodriguez, 27, of Paterson; Victor Alfonso Alvarez Martinez, 26, of Bronx; Edward M. Stanel, 25, of Parsippany, New Jersey; and Joseph Trimarco, 28, of Stony Point, New York, allegedly participated in a drug trafficking organization that amassed wholesale quantities of heroin at multiple locations around Bronx and used couriers to deliver large quantities of heroin to mid-level drug dealers in Paterson. The heroin was either sold in the Paterson area or redistributed to street-level drug dealers in suburban areas, including Morris County, New Jersey, and Rockland County, New York.

Lopez admitted he participated in this conspiracy from June 2015 until his arrest on April 19, 2016. He admitted that at the time of his arrest, he was giving a $13,500 payment to one of Goris-Castellano’s couriers in exchange for the 150 bricks of heroin.

The count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of life in prison, and a maximum $10 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11, 2017.