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Perez Omar Gibbs, 38, of Jamaica told a federal judge in Newark via videoconference that he hid more than six pounds of coke in two bags of coffee and four picture frames aboard a flight from Montego Bay, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
In an unrelated case, Honig said, Yolanda Fonseca Melgarejo, 59, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Peru, told another judge in Newark that she concealed more than 15 pounds in chocolate candy on a flight from Lima.
Each pleaded guilty to a single count of importing controlled substances.
Sentencing for Fonseca Melgarejo was scheduled for Oct. 14.
Gibbs was scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 20.
Honig credited special agents of the New Jersey Division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations and officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New York Field Office with the investigations.
The pleas were secured for Gibbs by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Fayer of Honig’s Economic Crimes Unit in Newark and for Fonseca Melgarejo by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Agnew of her Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark.
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