California inmate gets 5 years for drone drug delivery scheme
June 4 (UPI) -- A Pleasant Valley State Prison inmate in California will spend five more years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute illicit drugs via drone deliveries in 2021.
Michael Ray Acosta, from May 23 to Aug. 27, 2021, coordinated several drone deliveries of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana from inside the state prison, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced on Tuesday.
Acosta used a contraband cellphone to schedule the drug deliveries that four co-conspirators delivered by flying drones over the prison and dropped packages that Acosta and others would recover, Beckwith said.
The packages included drugs, cellphones, cellphone accessories and other items during what federal investigators dubbed "Operation Night Drop."
Accomplice Jose Oropeza is scheduled for sentencing on charges arising from the drone drug deliveries on July 28.
Alleged accomplice David Ramirez Jr. is expected to plead guilty on July 29, and Joshua Gonzalez and Rosendo Ramirez have court appearances scheduled on June 11.
The four are accused of flying the drones that made the drug deliveries.
Investigators with the FBI, Federal Aviation Administration, Drug Enforcement Agency and the California Department of Corrections investigated the case.
The prison is located in Central California's Fresno County and about 55 miles southwest of Fresno.
A prison record says Acosta is 50, but the Department of Justice's press release indicates he is 48.
Neither the DOJ nor the prison record says why Acosta already was imprisoned or for how long.
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