Admitted heroin, meth pushers from Plumsted sentenced

Three of five suspects from Plumsted, who admitted funneling heroin and methamphetamine through Ocean and Burlington Counties, head to prison for terms ranging between three and 10 years. Two more await sentencing.

According to the office of acting New Jersey Attorney General Robert Lougy, Guadalupe "Lupe" Madrigal-Mejia, 36, was given 10 years for his plea to one first -degree count of heroin distribution. Juan Mendez, 48, was handed a six-year term for second-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Antonio Esqueda, 34, was given three years for his plea to a third-degree count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Elias "Peligro" Corona-Sanchez, 32, of East Hanover, awaits sentencing for his January 11 guilty plea to first-degree distibution of heroin. Prosecutors are seeking 10 years at his scheduled April 22 sentencing.

Juan Gutierrez-Valencia, 25, of Pemberton, under a separate indictment, pleaded guilty January 19 to first-degrree possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, second-degree possession of a handgun, and fourth-degree obstruction. At his scheduled May 20 sentencing, prosecutors will seek a 10-year sentence, with three-and-a-half years of parole ineligibility.

All five were charged in the wake of an investigation dubbed "Operation Speed Racer," that involved investigators from the Cape May and Gloucester County Prosecutor's Offices, Ewing Township police, New Jersey State Police, the state Division of Criminal Justice, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Gutierrez-Valencia was also accused of hitting two state troopers with a car while trying to escape them in a botched drug transaction in Mount Laurel in July 2014, leading to the obstrucition charge. Investigators said that they confiscated a stolen 9mm handgun found in his car during the arrest.

According to investigators, Gutierrez-Valencia met an undercover narc at a hotel on Fellowship Road in Mount Laurel on July 7, 2014, to move two kilograms of crystal meth. Inside Gutierrez-Valencia's car, the detective was shown a black gym bag containing a large amount of methamphetamine, investigators said.

He left the car and signaled troopers. One of the two in the path of the car fired at Gutierrez-Valencia, hitting him in the arm.

The four codefendants were arrested the following day in the house occupied by Madrigal-Mejia, Corona-Sanchez and Esqueda, on Jacobstown Road in New Egypt.

An undercover investigator had arranged to buy two kilograms of black tar heroin from Corona-Sanchez and Madrigal-Mejia for $65,000 per kilo.

Members of the state police TEAMS unit moved in when the detective was shown the drugs. Mendez, who investigators said supplied the heroin, was arrested in a car outside the house. Esqueda was apprehended in a bedroom where detectives said they found a quantity of cocaine.

More cocaine, some packed for sale, was found in the kitchen and hall closets, investigators said, adding that a digital scale, heat sealer and packaging materials were also found in common areas.

Madrigal-Mejia and Corona-Sanchez also were charged in connection with the undercover buy of a half-kilogram of crystal meth on May 2, 2014, outside a convenience store on Route 130 in Florence, for $15,000. Authorities did not identify the co-conspirator who brought the drugs to the detective and the cash to the pair, parked nearby.

"These narcotics traffickers callously profited at the expense of the drug users whose lives and families were ripped apart by the heroin and methamphetamine they sold," Lougy said in prepared remarks. "We will aggressively prosecute anyone who deals these extremely malignant drugs."

State Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig added that New Jersey authorities will continue working with local, county and federal investigators to root out the avenues that narcotics are traveling through the state.

"These defendants were major suppliers who sold multiple kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine to street-level dealers in South Jersey," Honig said.

New Jersey State Police Superintentent Colonel Rick Fuentes said that the handgun and the attempt to run down troopers indicates the by-all-means-necessary mindset that fuels the drug trade."This cooperative effort by the State Police and the U.S. DEA has shut down a significant distribution route," Fuentes said.