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U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton sentenced Jhensel Jimenez-Taveras, 27, on Thursday to a plea-bargained 37 months, followed by three years of supervised release.
He must serve the entire term because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
Jiminez-Taveras also must forfeit the cash found in his vehicle when NJSP troopers stopped him in April 2019 following a drug deal in Berkeley Heights, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
The investigation by the NJSP and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which is headquartered in Washington, DC but operates nationwide.
The task force’s principal mission, Carpenito said, is to “identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.”
It’s housed at the DEA’s New York office and includes agents and officers of the DEA, ATF, Secret Service, IRS, U.S. Marshals Service, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, Coast Guard, NYPD, New York State Police, New York National Guard, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and local police departments.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Barnes of Carpenito’s OCDETF/Narcotics Unit in Newark.
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