Maryland Man Jailed for 21+ Years in Prison for Heroin and Pot Conspiracies

Greenbelt Man Sentenced to 262 Months in Prison for Heroin and Marijuana Conspiracies

Greenbelt, MD – U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Jose Joaquin Morales, age 37, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 262 months in prison followed by six years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute heroin and marijuana while he was in prison.

Morales, a career offender, threatened his co-defendant, Terry Sadler, and used his minor child to help conceal the heroin smuggling. Judge Titus also ordered the sentence imposed today be consecutive to the 262 month federal sentence Morales is currently serving for possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

According to court documents and statements in court, Morales was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas to 262 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. The federal Bureau of Prisons transferred Morales to the U.S. Penitentiary in Canaan, Pennsylvania to serve his sentence.

Morales admitted that he was part of two conspiracies – one to bring heroin into the prison, and a second to continue to direct his marijuana trafficking outside the prison using his contacts in Maryland and Texas.

Morales enlisted the help of female family members or women with whom he’d had a romantic relationship to assist in the drug distribution. Morales contacted the women, providing them with a contact from whom they could obtain the heroin. He described to each woman how to package the heroin in balloons and that when the woman arrived at the prison, they would exchange the heroin by kissing, transferring the heroin from the woman’s mouth to Morales’.

For example, beginning in April 2010, Morales called co-defendant Terry Sadler to arrange for her to transport heroin into the prison facility. Sadler had a long time romantic relationship with Morales and they had a child together. Morales provided Sadler with a drug contact in Baltimore from whom Sadler could obtain heroin. After obtaining the heroin, Sadler visited Morales in prison and distributed the heroin to him by kissing him and transferring the heroin packages from her mouth to his.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; and Colonel Michael Kundrat, Chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

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