NEWARK, N.J. – A Sayreville, New Jersey, man was convicted today by a federal jury for his role in a conspiracy to import heroin from India into the United States, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Adolphus Nwokedi, 47, was convicted of an indictment charging him with one count of conspiring with others to import 100 grams or more of heroin. He was convicted following a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court. The jury deliberated for about three hours before returning the guilty verdict.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:
From Oct. 2013 through Dec. 2013, Nwokedi conspired with an individual in India to ship a parcel containing heroin into the United States. In return for $3,000, Nwokedi agreed to accept the package at his business address in Newark and then deliver it to another conspirator living in Bronx, New York. On Dec. 11, 2013, customs officers at the John F. Kennedy International Airport mail facility intercepted the parcel and found 524 grams of heroin. On Jan. 2, 2014, agents with Homeland Security Investigations conducted a controlled delivery of the parcel. Nwokedi personally accepted the parcel in Newark and was subsequently arrested.
The conspiracy count carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum potential penalty of 40 years in prison. Sentencing is set for March 21, 2016.
U .S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Newark Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Kevin Kelly, with the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David M. Eskew and Melissa Wangenheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: Kevin F. Carlucci Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark