The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Man accused of running drug trafficking from prison
Former Painesville resident among those named in indictment
A Mexican resident formerly living in Painesville is accused of leading a drug trafficking organization from his prison cell.
Jose Lozano-Leon, 41, is one of 10 people named in a 17-count indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Another Painesville man, 36-year-old Belen Orozco-Sigala was also named in the indictment.
Others named in the indictment ranged in location from Mexico to Cleveland and nearby cities.
The organization is accused of trafficking fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, often in blue pills that were stamped to look like oxycodone.
Those drugs along with cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana were shipped from Mexico to a house in Cleveland and from there sold throughout Northeast Ohio, U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman said. Cash from the sales was allegedly sent to California and Arizona before making its way back into Mexico, he added.
Lozano, the alleged leader of the organization, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown. He was indicted for illegal reentry in October 2018 after being deported in 2017. He later pleaded guilty to that charge.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that since at least November 2018, Lozano was using a “tiny” cell phone that was smuggled into the prison. DEA Detroit Field Division Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin said it is believed the cellphone
was smuggled in via drone.
Lozano is alleged to have spoken frequently with his co-defendants and others to arrange shipments of the drugs.
In a conversation that was monitored by law enforcement, Lozano was allegedly asked how strong he wanted the pills to be on a scale of 1 to 10. Lozano allegedly replied that he wanted them to be an 8 or a 9, but that he didn’t want any overdoses. “This group brought danger,” Herdman said. “Let me underline that, they brought danger from Mexico to Cleveland in the form of drugs that were labeled as one thing but they were in fact something far more dangerous.”
Herdman said it’s another reminder that there is no such thing as safe drugs that you buy on the street.
“If you buy a pill in 2019 in Northeast Ohio, it’s not going to be what you think it is, it’s going to have fentanyl.”
Lake County Crime Lab Supervisor of Chemistry & Toxicology said in February that his lab was seeing a rising number of fake oxycodone tablet submissions.
“The Mexican cartels continue to find ways to import drugs into the U.S. and ultimately Ohio,” Martin said.
“They were contaminating the streets of Ohio with blue pills designed to look like oxycodone and Percocet, but they were actually fentanyl. These pills were designed to deceive law enforcement and the street customers as well.”
Charges against Lozano include conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to launder money.
The Euclid Police Departments and the Lake County Narcotics Drugs Task Force are among the agencies that assisted with the investigation.