Passaic County Man Sentenced to 44 Months in Prison for Participating in Heroin Conspiracy

 NEWARK, N.J. – A Passaic County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 44 months in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin and distributing a quantity of heroin, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Carl Brown, 27, of Paterson, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti to a superseding information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin and knowingly and intentionally distributing heroin. Judge Martinotti imposed the sentence by videoconference today.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Brown and his conspirators are members and associates of the 230 Boys street gang, which operates primarily around Rosa Parks Boulevard and Godwin Avenue in Paterson. Through numerous controlled purchases of narcotics, consensually recorded telephone calls and text messages, physical surveillance, and the analysis of telephone call detail records, law enforcement officers determined that from September 2018 through Oct. 1, 2019, Brown and his conspirators conspired to distribute narcotics, including heroin.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Martinotti sentenced Brown to three years of supervised release.

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents and task force officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Toby C. Taylor; special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson in Newark; officers of the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan; officers of the Paterson Police Department, under the direction of Director Jerry Speziale and Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora; detectives of the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Camelia Valdes; and the Passaic County Sheriff's Department, under the direction of Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik, with the investigation leading to the charges. She also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bergen County Sheriff's Office and the Belleville and Livingston police departments for their assistance with the case.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francesca Liquori, of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit.