A Riverside County man admitted in federal court in San Diego Thursday to distributing cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and the powerful synthetic opiate fentanyl in connection with a family trafficking ring that he orchestrated.
Hugo Adalberto Adrian Ramirez, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiring with relatives — including his wife, sister, two adult children and nephew — to illegally sell controlled substances within Southern California and to various communities throughout the country, including the East Coast.
As part of the Corona resident’s plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend that he serve no more than 35 years in custody for the conviction, which had carried a maximum punishment of life in prison. He will remain in custody pending sentencing, scheduled for March 7.
According to court documents, Ramirez directed and participated in all aspects of his illicit narcotics business, including acquiring and negotiating the sale of controlled substances, conducting and directing counter- surveillance of law enforcement and collecting drug proceeds.
The defendant also used his underage children to promote the business, having them run errands, pass messages and spy on law enforcement officers investigating his crimes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego.
Ramirez also admitted to organizing numerous shipments of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to sub-distributors in North Carolina, and conceded that he arranged for distribution of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and fentanyl — a painkiller 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine — to pushers in New Jersey.
Ramirez’s admissions marked the 12th guilty plea in the case. Family members of his who participated in the conspiracy have received sentences ranging from 14 months to 10 years behind bars.
Ramirez’s wife, Maria Ayala, received a 70-month custody term following her guilty plea to laundering money in furtherance of the family’s criminal operation. His son, Hugo Norberto-Adrian Jr., 21, got 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute illegal drugs.
Co-defendant Sonja Shenelle Holder, a New York rapper known as “Sonja Blade,” is scheduled to be sentenced Monday. In her plea agreement, Holder, 37, admitted to laundering about $327,000 in service of the trafficking organization.
