NJ man used drones to smuggle cell phones, tobacco, other contraband into federal prison
A New Jersey man pleaded guilty to smuggling contraband into a federal prison with a drone as well as possession of heroin and fentanyl Tuesday.
Jason Arteaga-Loayza, also known as "Juice," was an inmate at the correctional facility in Fort Dix from June 2017 to September 2018. A month after he got out, he and his co-conspirators started coordinating to fly a drone over the prison grounds and drop cell phones, tobacco, weight loss supplements and other forms of contraband to an inmate still inside the federal correctional facility.
They would then sell the contraband to other prisoners for a profit.
Adrian Goolcharran, Nicolo Denichilo and Johansel Moronta have also been charged in the scheme.
Goolcharran, who is accused of flying the drone, would camp out in the woods near the prison and fly the drones in the evening hours or overnight to avoid detection. He also put tape over the drone's lights to make it harder for prison officials to spot them.