United States Drug Enforcement Administration

TRENTON, N.J. - Valerie A. Nickerson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, and William E. Fitzpatrick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey announced an Anaheim, California, man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for laundering money on behalf of an international drug trafficking organization.

Harry Madrid, 26, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to Count Two of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to launder money. Judge Sheridan imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

From June 2014 through November 2014, Madrid conspired with other members of an international drug trafficking organization, which included cells operating in New Jersey, to launder more than $150,000 in United States currency related to the distribution of heroin.

Several of Madrid’s co-defendants have also pleaded guilty before Judge Sheridan and await sentencing. Madrid’s brother, Wilson Madrid, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money. Henry Zamora pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute four kilograms of heroin that were recovered from a hidden compartment in his vehicle. Dany Francisco-Valerio pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute 15 kilograms of heroin that were recovered from a hidden compartment in his vehicle when it was stopped in Warren County, New Jersey.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Madrid to three years of supervised release.

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited the Drug Enforcement (DEA)’s New Jersey Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Valerie Nickerson, officers of the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Acting Superintendent Col. Patrick J. Callahan, and officers from the DeKalb, Illinois, police department, under the direction of Chief Gene Lowrey, with the investigation.