Arizona Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Methamphetamine Trafficking and Money Laundering Conspiracy

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - Alonzo Harris, 44, of Youngtown, Arizona, was sentenced today to thirty (30) years imprisonment for his conviction for federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Field Division.  In imposing sentence, Chief United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby also ordered the defendant to serve ten years of supervised release following his term of incarceration, and to forfeit $873,592.99 in unlawful proceeds from the criminal activity.

Alonzo Harris was convicted following a four-day jury trial in October 2018.  The evidence at trial proved that Harris used the U.S. Postal Service to send more than fifty multi-pound packages of methamphetamine from the Phoenix, Arizona area to Broome County, New York, where other members of his trafficking organization distributed the drugs.  The trial evidence also established that Harris, along with his co-conspirators, generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds from this illegal drug activity.

The conviction in this case was part of Operation Hailstorm, a multi-agency investigation that resulted in charges against ten individuals involved in illegal methamphetamine-trafficking activity.  The other nine defendants all previously pled guilty and were sentenced.

This case was investigated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the United States Postal Inspection Service, the New York State Police, the Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force, and the Vestal (New York) Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicolas Commandeur and Michael Gadarian.