Date: Feb. 4, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Johnstown, PA — A resident of Queens, New York, was sentenced in federal court to six years of imprisonment on his conviction for violating federal narcotics laws related to a six-month Title III wiretap investigation into drug trafficking in and around Blair, Cambria, Centre, and Clearfield counties of Pennsylvania, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.
United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines imposed the sentence on Timothy Paz on January 21, 2025, also ordering that Paz serve three years of supervised release following his incarceration.
According to information presented to the Court, Paz was a courier who transported approximately seven pounds of methamphetamine from the New York City area to Altoona, Pennsylvania, on behalf of a large-scale narcotics supplier. Paz also transported large amounts of United States currency representing payment for the methamphetamine from an Altoona-based narcotics distributor to the supplier.
Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan D. Lusty prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Postal Service – Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, and Pennsylvania State Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Paz.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.