NORRISTOWN — Two men, one from Lansdale and the other from Hatfield, are headed to state prison after they admitted to conspiring in a cocaine trafficking scheme in the North Penn area.
Oscar Emilio Portillo Ramirez, 24, of the 500 block of North Towamencin Avenue, Lansdale, and Bernardo Ortega, 34, of the 900 block of Forty Foot Road, Hatfield, each was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 4 to 8 years in a state correctional facility after they pleaded guilty to identical charges of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and conspiracy to deliver cocaine in connection with incidents that occurred between April and May 2023.
Judge Thomas M. DelRicci imposed the sentences after Ramirez, identified in court papers as a Honduran National, and Ortega, identified in court papers as a Mexican National, reached plea agreements before their trial was set to begin.
The arrests were the result of an investigation conducted by county detectives, Pennsylvania State Police, Hatfield and Lansdale police and members of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
The investigation was launched in April 2023 after authorities received information regarding Ortega being involved in “the large-scale acquisition and sale of cocaine,” according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators utilized electronic and physical surveillance, cellphone call detail records and undercover operations to identify Ramirez as Ortega’s source of cocaine supply.
During an undercover operation on May 17, 2023, authorities observed Ortega and Ramirez delivering two kilograms of cocaine to another individual on a parking lot in the 100 block of Forty Foot Road in Hatfield, according to the criminal complaint. A team of investigators moved in and took Ortega and Ramirez into custody at that time and seized the two kilograms of cocaine.
Based on their training and experience, detectives alleged the street value of two kilograms of cocaine is about $200,000.
Ortega and Ramirez cooperated with authorities and Ortega consented to a search of his apartment, court documents indicate. During the search, investigators found additional cocaine, drug packaging materials and currency in a locked safe.
The investigation determined Ramirez acquired the kilograms of cocaine from a source of supply in Washington, D.C., and orchestrated the delivery via phone, according to the criminal complaint.
Other charges of criminal use of a communication facility and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed against Ramirez and Ortega as part of the plea agreements.
