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Raymond Zamora, 24, was sentenced to two years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, US Judge George Russell III announced on Thursday, Aug. 11.
The sentence came days after co-conspirator Hugo Maldonado Ortiz, 53, was sentenced to five years behind bars, following three years of supervised release on the same charge.
As part of the sentence, Russell further ordered that Zamora and Ortiz must forfeit $2 million seized during the course of the investigation, as proceeds of drug trafficking.
Between April 2020 and Oct. 26, 2020, Zamora and Ortiz admitted to being a part of a conspiracy to distribute drugs, specifically to possess with intent to distribute those drugs in Baltimore and elsewhere, prosecutors said.
As their part of the conspiracy, Zamora and Ortiz obtained cash, packaged it, and delivered the currency to couriers for transportation, officials noted.
Zamora and Ortiz admitted that they knew, or should have known, that the cash they transferred to and from members of the conspiracy was the proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs in Baltimore and elsewhere in the region.
The pair and other co-conspirators traveled to locations in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and elsewhere to receive large amounts of bulk currency, believed to be narcotics proceeds, and then transported or arranged the transport of the bulk cash to California on behalf of their drug trafficking organization, according to investigators.
During the investigation, more than $2 million was seized or delivered to undercover law enforcement agents.
Officials said that both Zamora and Ortiz readily admitted that it was “foreseeable” that the money they were moving was ascertained through illicit means.
“Investigators know that this amount of drug proceeds represents revenue from the sale of approximately seventy-five kilograms of cocaine,” prosecutors said. “Accordingly, Zamora agreed that it was foreseeable to him that the conspirators would distribute between five and 15 kilograms of cocaine.
“Ortiz agreed that it was foreseeable to him that the conspirators would distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine.”
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