Local drug dealer gets 10-20 years
By JIM RUNKLE — jrunkle@lockhaven.comBELLEFONTE — Fourteen months after the state’s Attorney General’s office closed the door on a massive drug trafficking ring operating in central Pennsylvania, the first and foremost of those defendants was sentenced Tuesday to a lengthy state prison term.
Orlando “OD” or “Pablo” Diaz Jr., 40, of Loganton, frequently described as the “kingpin” of the organization, was sentenced to serve 10 to 20 years in state prison during a hearing this week in Centre County Court.
The investigation known as “Operation Flat Tire” focused on the alleged trafficking and sale of bulk quantities of cocaine and heroin around the Lock Haven area.
It began with a quiet but intense investigation by Clinton County law enforcement authorities into the flow of illegal drugs and dealers between New York City and Clinton County.
It continues today with the promise of more arrests, even as numerous sentencings, guilty pleas and trials are still pending in connection with the Clinton County Drug Task Force initiative.
Diaz entered a guilty plea last month that resulted in several of the 40 criminal counts he faced being dismissed, but received felony-level prison time for his role in the crimes.
Diaz, a New York City gang member, came to Clinton County several years ago looking for easy pickings, police said, and developed mid-level dealers from his local clients by trading drugs in exchange for money and/or sex, law enforcement officials said.
Assistant Attorney General Dave Gorman prosecuted the case and local attorney Stacy Parks Miller was specially assigned as public defender.
The investigation is continuing and more arrests are pending, police said.
In January of 2007, 15 individuals were taken into custody for what agents estimated was a drug organization distributing approximately $2 million worth of cocaine and heroin over a four-year span.
The investigation was a cooperative effort by state police, the Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, Lock Haven police and several New York City police departments, according to Attorney General Tom Corbett.
The defendants — most of them from the Lock Haven area — were selling drugs in Lycoming, Clinton and Centre counties, officials said.
The arrests followed a two-year grand jury investigation and a three-year investigation begun by Lock Haven police and the Clinton County Task Force, Corbett said.
Corbett said the charges were filed in Centre County instead of Clinton because the corruption charges allowed authorities to file in either region. Diaz faced a maximum of 287 years in prison if found guilty of each charge.
He was placed in prison in default of $2.5 million bail. Most of the local evidence was collected by Lock Haven Detective Sgt. Charles Shoemaker and Narcotics Agent Gordon Mincer, Corbett said.
Investigators also pointed to a major conduit for drug activity in Interstate 80, which offers convenient transportation from New York City through rural Pennsylvania
Court records suggest Diaz was a member of a large Hispanic street gang and targeted Clinton County as an easily accessible region with little competition. Diaz moved to this area, established the necessary connections, recruited local resources with promises of free drugs or money and opened up for business, according to the Grand Jury testimony.
In some cases, Diaz would provide his sellers one bundle of heroin for every two they sold. He also would frequently trade drugs to his female sellers in exchange for sexual favors, Corbett said.
After Diaz worked his way through the initial stages of building a network, Corbett said the defendant purchased heroin and cocaine from a supplier in Bronx, where he was a member of the Hispanic street gang known as the “Latin Kings.”
The Latin Kings are well known across the United States, in federal and state prisons, and are well established in New York and Pennsylvania, according to authorities.
The grand jury found that Diaz drove to the Bronx at least once a week, sometimes more, to obtain additional drug supplies.
Corbett said that once Diaz made his purchase, he would allegedly travel to a tire repair shop in New York City, where he would plant the drugs in bags of coffee and place them in a spare tire for transport.
According to the grand jury, Diaz would bring the drugs back to this area to the residences of members of his organization to repackage the drugs for resale in Clinton and Centre counties. Diaz allegedly provided some of the cocaine and heroin free of charge to various females in exchange for sex.
