From the U.S. Attorney:
Man Sentenced to a Decade in Federal Prison for Attempting to Traffic Cocaine in Chicago
CHICAGO — A man has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison for attempting to traffic cocaine that was shipped to Chicago from California.
In February 2022, JOSE RAMIREZ-ARELLANO arranged to receive a parcel containing approximately five kilograms of cocaine that was shipped to his residence in Chicago from southern California.
Law enforcement intercepted the package, replaced the real cocaine with sham cocaine, and delivered it to Ramirez-Arellano’s residence.
Upon receipt, Ramirez-Arellano took the package to a hotel in downtown Chicago, where he was arrested.
The federal investigation revealed that Ramirez-Arellano also received a second shipment of approximately five kilograms of cocaine that same month.
In addition, law enforcement seized two parcels of bulk cash linked to Ramirez-Arellano, which together contained approximately $43,550.
Ramirez-Arellano, 33, pleaded guilty last year to a federal drug charge.
U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood imposed the prison sentence on Jan. 17, 2025, during a hearing in federal court in Chicago.
The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Ruth M. Mendonça, Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Valuable assistance was provided by the Chicago Police Department and the Illinois National Guard Counter-Drug Task Force.
“The cocaine that defendant attempted to possess and distribute represented thousands of street-level user quantities of this highly addictive and dangerous narcotic,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Parthum argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Had defendant succeeded in receiving and distributing that cocaine, it would have exacerbated the crisis of addiction and cocaine-related harms and deaths.”
