Jose Rafael Hidalgo, Cocaine Trafficking, Pennsylvania 2020

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania — A Dominican national has been sentenced to 70 months' imprisonment for cocaine trafficking in Luzerne County.

Jose Rafael Hidalgo, 43, was sentenced on September 24, 2020, by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy that took place between 1994 and 1999.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Hidalgo conspired with Luzerne County resident David Drozdowski and others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Hidalgo supplied Drozdowski with cocaine, which he admitted was between 5 and 15 kilograms, which Drozdowski and others then distributed in and around Luzerne County.

Hidalgo was arrested on August 25, 1999, and, after entering an agreement with the United States to plead guilty, he was granted conditional release. However, he removed an electronic monitoring device and absconded while residing in New Jersey under supervised pre-trial release between October 12, 1999, and February 2000.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued an arrest warrant for Hidalgo on February 22, 2000. The U.S. Marshals Service took charge of the investigation to locate and apprehend Hidalgo, and, in 2016, confirmed that Hidalgo was living in the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania initiated extradition procedures in conjunction with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, leading to Hidalgo's arrest by Dominican law enforcement authorities on January 17, 2019. Extradition was granted on March 25, 2019, and the U.S. Marshals returned Hidalgo to the United States where he appeared before a federal Magistrate Judge for an initial appearance on May 20, 2019.

The original drug trafficking case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Pennsylvania State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/dominican-national-sentenced-twenty-year-old-felony-drug-charges