Egg Harbor Twp., NJ, Man Sentenced For Conspiracy Involving Over 100 Kilos of Cocaine

An Egg Harbor Township man will be spending the next several years behind bars for his role in a conspiracy to distribute a large amount of cocaine across South Jersey and Philadelphia.

On Thursday, 53-year-old Lester Santana was sentenced to 60 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Federal authorities say Santana admitted that on numerous occasions from March 2019 through August 2020, he and his conspirators flew to San Juan, PR, on commercial flights from Philadelphia International Airport.

Santana and his conspirators purchased large quantities of cocaine from wholesale drug suppliers based in the San Juan area in exchange for cash. Santana and the others then shipped the cocaine by overnight delivery from U.S. Post Offices in San Juan to various addresses in Philadelphia and South Jersey, including to Santana’s home.

After the cocaine shipments were delivered, a conspirator resold the cocaine to other drug dealers in the Philadelphia area for profit.

Santana admitted that he was jointly responsible for the possession with intent to distribute and/or distribution of 50 to 150 kilograms of cocaine.

Other actors

Two other conspirators in this case, Jose Gonzalez and Iran Soler, both previously pleaded guilty to a conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine charge. Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced on January 4th and Soler on November 6th.

In addition to the prison term, Santana was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.