United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Alfred Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana announced that Juan Aquino, 53, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty after pleading guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 500 or more grams of cocaine.

Aquino was sentenced to 78 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, in December 2023, Aquino obtained four kilograms of cocaine from Colorado and was transporting it back to New Jersey in hidden vehicle compartments when he was stopped by law enforcement on the Indiana Toll Road. At the time of the offense, Aquino was on court release awaiting the start of a 63-month term of federal imprisonment for distributing fentanyl and conspiring to distribute fentanyl. 

This case was investigated by the DEA, including the DEA North Central Laboratory, with assistance from the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office and the LaPorte County Prosecutor’s Office.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph P. Falvey and Katelan McKenzie Doyle.