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Cesar E. Perez, 55, of the Bronx, and Divanos A. Mendoza, 37, of Manhattan, told a judge that they were the local connections in a scheme that transported well over $1.4 million worth of cocaine to New Jersey.
Although both agreed to sentences of 10 years each, Perez need only serve three years in state prison before he will be eligible for parole and Mendoza 30 months as a result of their guilty pleas yesterday in Hackensack.
Both also agreed to testify against two other men arrested with them: Carlos Marroquin, 52, and Juan Roque, 31, both of Los Angeles, are set for trial April 24 if they don’t cut a deal with state prosecutors in the next two weeks, Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian told them yesterday.
“This case has been pending for a long time,” Jerejian told Marroquin and Roque.
“You were arraigned one year ago. You were arrested July 24, 2012,” the judge said. “By now you should be ready to decide what you’re going to do. It’s not going to be delayed any longer.”
Questioned by defense attorney Michael DeBliss, Perez told Jerejian that the deal that brought down all four wasn’t a one-time occurrence but, rather, part of an ongoing enterprise.
He said he and Mendoza met the other two in a Mendham warehouse.
“The day before, there was a telephone call made, the way we always do, to be waiting for them there,” Perez testified through a Spanish interpreter. “Sometimes I really can’t tell them apart. It could have been either Marroquin or Roque.
“Normally they would contact me and tell me when they’re coming.”
Perez said Roque drove the truck into the warehouse with the cocaine concealed in special hidden compartments. He and Mendoza then gave them the money, he said.
Mendoza, meanwhile, testified that he had met Marroquin once before the deal, that the cash amounted to more than $1 million and that the truck contained a large amount of cocaine — which he later discovered was 40 kilos.
The arrests were part of a larger investigation by the New Jersey State Police, NY/NJ Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force and the Metuchen Police Department.
Investigators seized cash and assets exceeding $3 million. These included six vehicles — a 2003 Saturn Vue, 2004 Saturn Vue, 2000 Ford Excursion, 2004 Ford Econoline van, 2004 Honda Accord, and a 2001 Freightliner tractor — four of which they said contained electronically activated hidden compartments.
Perez and Mendoza pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to possess the cocaine with the intent to distribute it and money laundering.
Jerejian set sentencing for both for May 5.
Defense attorney Adam Lustberg, Juan Roque, defense attorney Scott Finkenauer, Carlos Marroquin
(STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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