Man sentenced to five years in prison for role in drug conspiracy in Hunterdon County
TRENTON, NJ – A California man was sentenced Wednesday to 60 months in prison for his role in a drug distribution conspiracy connected to the seizure of fentanyl and heroin at a Hunterdon County rest stop last year, according to acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig.
Luis Aponte, 50, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and heroin, Honig said.
According to the documents filed in the case and statements made in court, on March 1, 2019, Aponte drove a tractor-trailer truck to a rest stop in Bloomsbury. The next day, he met his co-defendant, Denny Diaz, 31, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a car and gave Diaz approximately six kilograms of fentanyl. Both men were arrested shortly thereafter. Law enforcement officers searched Aponte’s truck at the rest stop and found an additional two kilograms of fentanyl and 11 kilograms of heroin inside. Diaz pleaded guilty in September 2019 and was sentenced on May 26, 2020, to 33 months in prison.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Aponte to three years of supervised release, Honig said.
