Juan Manu Pena-Zapata Guilty Plea

THRICE DEPORTED DOMINICAN NATIONAL PLEADS GUILTY TO

ILLEGAL REENTRY, TRAFFICKING HEROIN AND FENTANYL

PROVIDENCE – A Dominican national previously deported from the United States on three occasions pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence today to trafficking heroin and fentanyl, and illegal reentry into the United States, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Rhode Island State Police Superintendent James M. Manni, and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh.

According to information presented to the Court, members of the Rhode Island Fugitive Task Force, who were attempting to locate Juan Manu Pena-Zapata based on a federal arrest warrant issued in the Western District of Michigan on a charge of using a false social security number, pulled over his a vehicle in Providence on September 18, 2018. After placing Pena-Zapata in custody, agents searched his vehicle. Inside a center console agents found three plastic bags containing controlled substances, later determined by the Rhode Island Department of Health to contain 4.89g of fentanyl, 5.00g of heroin, and 29.77g of fentanyl.

A follow-up investigation by the Fugitive Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations determined that Pena-Zapata, a native and citizen of the Dominican Republic, was previously deported from the United States on June 28, 2002; April 9, 2008; and April 7, 2010.

Appearing today before U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., Pena-Zapata, 39, of Providence, pleaded guilty to knowingly and intentionally possessing with intent to distribute a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, and illegal reentry into the United States. He pleaded guilty on November 16, 2018, to the charge of using a false social security number brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan.

            He is scheduled to be sentenced in both cases by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., on June 25, 2019.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gerard B. Sullivan.