The U.S. attorney's office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Monroe County man pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion in Scranton, to participating in a heroin trafficking conspiracy that stretched from Stroudsburg to New York to Maine, and to forcing or coercing women into engaging in prostitution in northeastern Pennsylvania.

According to U.S. Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the defendant, Jose Velazquez, 26, who used the street name "Sev," admitted to conspiring with others to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin (which is approximately equivalent to 4,000 retail bags of heroin) and to sex trafficking an adult female between 2012 and 2014.Velazquez was indicted along with six other people by a federal grand jury in Scranton in September 2015, as a result of an investigation by the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, Maine State Police, the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, and local police in Monroe County.In October 2016, Velazquez was charged in a superseding indictment with drug trafficking and sex trafficking crimes.The superseding indictment alleges that Velazquez participated in a street gang known as the Black P-Stones; that male gang members were "beaten-in" to the gang and female members were "sexed-in." Theindictment further alleged that members of the Black P-Stones obtained heroin in New York and distributed the heroin in Stroudsburg and locations in Maine.Couriers were used to transport heroin from New York to Maine.Theindictment alleges that females werebeing forced to engage in sex with male gang members; recruited and coerced to engage in prostitution; advertised as adult escorts on a website; provided with heroin and other drugs; and placed in various area hotels/motels to work as prostitutes. It is alleged that the sex trafficking defendants used threats, force and intimidation to coerce females to engage in prostitution.Wednesday Velazquez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute in excess of 100 grams of heroin, and one count of sex trafficking by force or coercion. He faces a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence and a potential 40-year prison sentence for the drug conspiracy charge; and a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence and a potential life sentence for the sex trafficking chargeOne of Velazquez's co-defendants, Sean Griffin, 22, who used the street name "Kritical," also pleaded guilty before Judge Mannion to participating in the same drug trafficking conspiracy. He admitted to being a sub-distributor of between 100 grams and 400 grams of heroin for the Black P-Stones. He faces a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.Judge Mannion ordered presentence investigations to be completed. Sentencing for both defendants will be scheduled at a later date.This case was brought as part of a districtwide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.This case was also brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.