Two people indicted in 2023 in connection with a drug ring that came into Indiana County were sentenced in federal court this week.
First Assistant US Attorney Troy Rivetti announced on Friday that 26-year-old Marcos Monarrez, Jr. was ordered to serve life in prison and three years of probation if he is released for violations of the federal “kingpin” drug-trafficking statute along with charges of money laundering. His father, 55-year-old Mexican national Marcos Monarrez-Mendoza will serve 15 years in federal prison, and will be deported back to Mexico after his release. Federal prosecutors said the two were co-leaders in a drug trafficking organization out of Phoenix. They were among the first to be indicted in March of 2023 as part of “Operation Lake Effect” a major investigation into drugs that stretched from Mexico into Phoenix and into Indiana County.
Rivetti said that the two provided the drugs to a network of traffickers who distributed them across the country, and provided thousands of dollars in proceeds from the drug sales to the couriers.
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