1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Chris Zumpetta-Parr, Public Affairs Specialist

June 29, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Philadelphia Resident Sentenced to 10 Years
on Cocaine Conspiracy Charge

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA — A 35-year old Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resident, formerly of Newell, West Virginia, was sentenced on June 29, 2012, in United States District Court in Wheeling by Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II announced that: GILBERTO MELENDEZ was sentenced to 120 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. MELENDEZ entered a plea of guilty on April 3, 2012, to one count of “Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine” from January to December of 2011 in the Hancock County area. MELENDEZ admitted distributed between 50 and 100 grams of cocaine in the Chester area in 2011 and his sentenced was increased when Court determined MELENDEZ was a career offender as a result of two prior felony convictions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2007.

MELENDEZ was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal pending designation to a Federal institution.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John C. Parr and investigated by the West Virginia State Police-Bureau of Criminal Investigations, working with the Youngstown DEA/ICE Task Force.