Lancaster woman gets 40 months in prison for cocaine trafficking conspiracy

A 44-year-old Lancaster woman was sentenced to 40 months in prison after a jury found her guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine during a three-day trial in November 2023, a announced the Ministry of Justice on Friday.

Moniqua Ramirez and six co-conspirators smuggled several kilograms of cocaine into the Lancaster area via U.S. Postal shipments from Puerto Rico, according to a press release. The release did not specify how much cocaine the group imported into central Pennsylvania.

Jonathan Lopez Arizmendi, Ricardo Soto, Ricky Sanchez, Angel Leon-Rivera, Omar Carmenaty Morales and Lucas Doel Gonzalez-Alvarado all pleaded guilty in the investigation.

Four of the accomplices have already been sentenced: Arizmendi to 150 months, Soto to 46 months, Sanchez to 36 months and Gonzalez-Alvarado to 97 months. Leon-Rivera and Morales await sentencing.

Ramirez and the six others named also participated in drug trafficking “at the street level,” selling cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, the release said.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Pennsylvania State Police, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Lancaster County Drug Task Force, and the Drugs of York County investigated the case and Assistant United States Attorney Michael Consiglio is prosecuting.