| TRENTON – Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced that a man was sentenced to state prison today on charges that he was a supplier who sold heroin to other dealers as part of a major heroin supply network in Camden. He was indicted as the result of a joint investigation called “Operation China White” that was led by the New Jersey State Police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. He also was charged in a separate indictment stemming from a second investigation by the same agencies called “Operation 3Ni.”
Wilson Fortuna, 27, of Camden, was sentenced today to 11 years in state prison, including more than three years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge John T. Kelley in Camden. He pleaded guilty on March 22 to first-degree distribution of heroin, a charge contained in the indictment in Operation China White, and second-degree conspiracy, in connection with Operation 3Ni.
Deputy Attorneys General Julia S. Glass, Jeffrey Barile and Rachael Weeks prosecuted the case for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau. Deputy Attorney General Weeks handled the sentencing today.
The joint investigations revealed that Wilson Fortuna was a heroin supplier who sold heroin to dealers in the ring targeted in Operation China White, as well as an alleged heroin dealer arrested in Operation 3Ni. Wilson Fortuna obtained heroin from a heroin mill that his uncle, Jose O. Fortuna, maintained inside his residence in the 300 block of North 41st Street in Camden.
Jose Fortuna, 40, of Camden, was sentenced on April 29 to 14 ½ years in prison, including five years of parole ineligibility, He pleaded guilty on March 22 to first-degree maintaining a heroin production facility, a charge from the indictment in Operation China White, and first-degree distribution of heroin, in connection with Operation 3Ni. A third defendant, Andy Lopez, 32, of Camden, was sentenced on April 29 to 10 years in state prison, including five years of parole ineligibility, pursuant to his guilty plea to first-degree distribution of heroin in Operation China White.
“As a major heroin supplier, this defendant cashed in on the suffering and death caused by opiate addiction in our communities,” said Attorney General Porrino. “We’ll continue to crack down on the drug traffickers responsible for this epidemic, including heroin dealers as well as those who illegally divert the prescription pain pills that are a gateway to this addiction.”
“By taking down heroin mills and wholesale dealers, we are constricting the supply of deadly heroin in Camden,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “I commend our partners in the State Police and DEA for their exemplary investigation, which combined undercover drug purchases and surveillance to track the heroin being sold by these dealers.”
“Our detectives and undercover troopers working to take down drug dealers are performing a great service for our state. It’s not something that everyone is cut out for, but I am very proud of their results. Every dealer they put in jail potentially represents fewer lives lost to overdoses, and less violence on New Jersey streets,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.
Carl J. Kotowski, Special Agent in Charge for DEA’s New Jersey Division said, “To be able to dismantle a drug trafficking organization distributing wholesale quantities of heroin is a major victory for not just the citizens of Camden, but for all of southern New Jersey. The DEA will continue to join forces with the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Police to combat these major drug violators.”
Wilson and Jose Fortuna were arrested in October 2013. Detectives and agents executed search warrants at the homes of both men. At the home of Jose Fortuna, the investigators found a heroin production facility in the basement containing a steel hydraulic press, 12 containers of a dietary supplement used as a cutting agent, scales, tools used for cutting and packaging, a currency counter, and $30,000 in cash. They also found a plastic bag containing three-quarters of a kilo of heroin.
Lopez was charged in connection with two sales of first-degree quantities of heroin to an undercover officer. On July 24, 2013, he sold more than five ounces of heroin to the undercover officer at a location next to Von Neida Park in Camden. On Oct. 10, 2013, Lopez sold nearly nine ounces of heroin to the undercover officer at the same location. The heroin for the second transaction was obtained from Wilson Fortuna immediately prior to the sale. Lopez was arrested after that transaction.
Attorney General Porrino commended the deputy attorneys general for the Division of Criminal Justice, the detectives for the New Jersey State Police Crime Suppression South Unit, and the special agents of the DEA who prosecuted the defendants and conducted these operations. The other partners critical to the success of these investigations were the DEA High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Joint Camden Task Force and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.#### |
