United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CAMDEN, N.J. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division Valerie A. Nickerson and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Craig Carpenito today announced a Hammonton, New Jersey man was sentenced to 108 months in prison for engaging in a conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of crystal methamphetamine in Atlantic County, New Jersey.

Ignacio Cuesta, 42, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Cuesta was arrested on June 24, 2016, in Hammonton, New Jersey, after agreeing to sell two pounds of crystal methamphetamine to an undercover narcotics detective. The two pounds of crystal methamphetamine were seized from Cuesta’s Ford Expedition, along with approximately $9,000 in cash. Several additional pounds of crystal methamphetamine possessed by Cuesta were found hidden in vehicles and buried in a bucket in the ground in a local business parking lot in Hammonton. Law enforcement officers also recovered additional cash inside the trunk of a vehicle owned and used by Cuesta, which was parked in the same parking lot in Hammonton. Police seized more than $100,00 in total value from Cuesta and this property.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hillman sentenced Cuesta to five years of supervised release. As part of the plea agreement, Cuesta agreed to forfeit all of the cash and two vehicles that were seized on the day of the arrest.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents with the DEA, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Nickerson, with the investigation. He also thanked the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo, for its assistance.