Union City heroin distributor gets 5 years in federal pen

CLIFFVIEW PILOT HAS IT FIRST: A Union City man convicted of running a heroin mill was sentenced to five years in federal prison today in Newark.

Jose Manuel Almonte, 38, was found guilty after a three-day trial the first week of September of conspiring to manufacture and distribute heroin and possession with intent to manufacture and distribute heroin.

The government said Almonte conspired with Joselin Reynoso, 47, of Union City and 40-year-old Ramon Delorbe of New York City to buy, process and sell more than a kilo of heroin in 2009.

When agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Almonte and searched the premises, they found 220 grams of heroin, extensive drug processing and packaging paraphernalia and roughly $8,800 in currency, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge William J. Martini sentenced Almonte to three years of
supervised release.

Both Delorbe and Reynoso have pleaded guilty to heroin charges. Reynoso has been deported, while Delorbe is awaiting sentencing by Judge Martini.

Fishman credited special agents and task force officers of the DEA for the investigation leading to today’s sentence. The case was presented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall Cook and Vikas Khanna of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.