The U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania released the below information:
PHILADELPHIA – Acting United
States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Delgardo Frazer, 52,
of Phoenix, AZ, was sentenced to eleven years and three months prison, and four
years of supervised release by United States District Judge Chad F. Kenney for
organizing and leading an international cocaine trafficking operation which was
discovered and dismantled in 2018.
In
April 2021, the defendant pleaded guilty to all counts in a Superseding
Indictment charging him with intent to distribute fentanyl, conspiracy to
distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking,
and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The charges stemmed from an
incident during which Frazer was arrested near Philadelphia International
Airport (PHL) in connection with drug smuggling.
For
his illicit trafficking organization, the defendant recruited and paid several
young women from Arizona to serve as “drug mules,” who would travel at his
behest to various Caribbean locations and then deliver suitcases containing
kilos of cocaine to him in Philadelphia, PA, and to his conspirators in
Orlando, FL. As part of the trafficking conspiracy, Frazer also distributed
fake oxycodone pills which, in fact, contained fentanyl. The operation came to
an end in July 2018, when one of the “drug mules,” after traveling a circuitous
route through the Caribbean, was stopped by federal agents at PHL with two suitcases
containing over 4 kilograms of cocaine. Frazer was waiting at a nearby hotel in
Essington, PA, to pick her up at the airport. When he learned that she was
stopped by law enforcement, he told her on a phone call to take a cab to the
nearest cheap hotel, and at the same time he packed up and abandoned the hotel
room five days ahead of schedule. The defendant was unaware that the woman was
with federal agents who overheard that call.
The
defendant drove out of the hotel parking lot quickly, and a Tinicum Township
police officer on routine patrol observe him commit multiple traffic
violations. The officer stopped Frazer and searched his vehicle at an on-ramp
to Interstate-95, at which point approximately 485 fake oxycodone pills
containing fentanyl were found in the gas cap, and a semi-automatic 9 mm Luger
handgun loaded with 12 live rounds was found in the trunk. Frazer had a prior
felony drug conviction in Arizona and was therefore not permitted to possess a
firearm.
“Drug
distribution and gun violence are an epidemic in Philadelphia, and the federal
government is aggressively prosecuting both in order to be ‘All Hands On Deck’
to get dangerous criminals like this defendant off the streets,” said Acting
U.S. Attorney Williams. “Delgado Frazer was a large-scale drug trafficker who
exploited women to do the ‘heavy lifting’ of bringing illegal narcotics into
our country through Philadelphia and other airports, which puts those
communities in grave danger. We want to thank our law enforcement partners in
this case, HSI and DEA, for their hard work and dedication.”
“Frazer
admitted to organizing an international drug trafficking ring, putting deadly
drugs in the hands of those struggling with addictions. HSI is committed
to working with its law enforcement partners to ensure that those seeking to
make a profit off the vulnerable are arrested to face the consequences of their
criminal acts,” said HSI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge, Brian Michael.
The case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrea G. Foulkes.
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