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Oscar Holguin, 38, was arrested in the Central Jersey town of Carteret, just off the New Jersey Turnpike, where authorities said he was assisted by 27-year-old local barmaid Natalie Stojano.
Also busted were Holguin’s girlfriend, Paula Amador, 29, also of Englewood, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said.
Detectives from Calo’s office “received a tip from a concerned citizen regarding suspicious packages” being shipped via FedEx by Holguin, the “ringleader of a nationwide drug-trafficking network,” Calo said.
“Traveling under the guise of a music promoter, Holguin made weekly trips to an area north of San Francisco, California known for the production of marijuana in outdoor grow facilities,” the prosecutor said.
After buying large quantities at wholesale prices there, Holguin had it broken down into “smaller, tightly sealed packages” that he stashed in subwoofers shipped to various locations in Bergen County, in Carteret and in Yonkers, Calo said.
An investigation dubbed “Operation Loud Speaker” led to the seizure of nearly 100 pounds of raw marijuana secreted in speakers at several locations in New York and New Jersey, the prosecutor said.
Detectives also froze Holguin’s bank accounts and seized a Range Rover and Dodge Durango “believed to be proceeds of his criminal activities,” he said.
Investigators estimated that Holguin and his accomplices “used this method to ship thousands of pounds of marijuana over the course of 3 to 4 years from California to New Jersey.”
All remain free pending further court action on conspiracy and other drug-related offenses.
More arrests were expected, the prosecutor said.
Calo thanked various law enforcement agencies for their roles in the case: Englewood, Paramus and Tenafly police, Yonkers police, the U.S. Postal Service and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York.
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