Drug ring investigation nets more pleas, sentencings
January 30, 2021 GMT
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) The mastermind behind a large drug-trafficking ring operating in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and California has entered a guilty plea, federal prosecutors in Virginia said Friday.
Four other defendants arrested in an investigation dubbed “Operation Cookout” either pleaded guilty or were sentenced in the past week for distributing large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine in Newport News and North Carolina, officials said
Ramiro Ramirez-Barreto, 44, faces at least 20 years in prison after pleading guilty on Monday to engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. Authorities described Ramirez-Barreto as a Mexican national linked to the Sinaloa cartel who supplied cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl to several drug distribution rings in Newport News, Virginia and in Henderson and Greensboro, North Carolina.
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