Oscar Collado-Rivera, Cocaine Trafficking Conspiracy, Ohio 2015

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal jury has nailed Oscar Collado-Rivera, 32, of New Albany, Ohio, for his role in a high-stakes cocaine trafficking conspiracy that flooded central Ohio with nearly 200 kilograms of the drug and moved at least $4 million in illicit cash over six months in 2015. The conviction, delivered yesterday after a three-day trial, marks the latest takedown in a sprawling drug network targeting the Columbus area.

Collado-Rivera was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine—a charge carrying a mandatory minimum of ten years behind bars and a possible life sentence. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson presided over the trial and will hand down sentencing after a pre-sentence investigation. The defendant has been locked up since his arrest in December 2015, when task force officers moved in on a federal criminal complaint.

According to evidence laid out in court, Collado-Rivera helped orchestrate the shipment of massive cocaine loads from Mexico and Texas straight into the Columbus drug trade. The network operated with precision, leveraging interstate routes and cash-heavy transactions that caught the attention of federal investigators. The DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation, and local law enforcement agencies spent years piecing together the operation.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman of the Southern District of Ohio confirmed that Collado-Rivera is the ninth defendant convicted out of 12 originally charged in April. ‘Disrupting the networks that bring illegal drugs into central Ohio requires tremendous cooperation by federal, state and local agencies,’ Glassman said. The three remaining suspects are believed to have fled the United States and remain at large.

The investigation was a full-scale joint effort involving the Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott’s Office, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and local police departments in Pickerington, Upper Arlington, and Westerville. These agencies worked side by side with federal task force units to track money flows, intercept shipments, and dismantle the conspiracy from the top down.

Deputy Criminal Chief Michael Hunter and Appellate Chief Mary Beth Young are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States. With each conviction, federal authorities say they’re cutting deeper into the spine of organized drug operations in the Midwest—one defendant at a time.