Jurors in Hackensack needed less than a day’s worth of deliberations in June to convict Yordanis Reyes of bringing the pot to the parking lot of the Chili’s Restaurant at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus for sale to a buyer who turned out to be an undercover detective.
His co-defendant, Alejandro Barcena, testified that Reyes was the lead man in several deals.
“This was a fairly sophisticated operation that involved bringing up large amounts of marijuana from the south by truck,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor James Santulli told Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Roma on Friday. “This was not five pounds of marijuana. It was 16 pounds of marijuana.”
Santulli provided a dramatic flourish during the trial when he threw the 16 pounds of shrink-wrapped marijuana bricks onto the floor in front of the jurors to emphasize the amount.
Roma rejected defense attorney Sam DeLuca’s claim that his client was a first offender, citing a false identification conviction.
“He’s not a stranger to the system,” the judge said.
In addition to the six-year sentence, Roma suspended Reyes’ ability to receive “any future New Jersey driver’s license” for a year after his release. Reyes is currently licensed in Florida.
DeLuca during the trial argued that his client had a business relationship with Barcena transporting cement and vehicles and knew nothing about the pot deal. The defense lawyer insisted that Barcena struck the deal with the undercover cop, and that Reyes — of Homestead, Florida — never got out of the car that day.
Barcena pleaded guilty to marijuana possession with the intent to distribute the drug and has remained free on $75,000 bail awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence in exchange for his cooperation in testifying during the trial against Reyes.
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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