Victor Felix Ogando DeLeon held a pivotal role in a 25-defendant multinational drug ring that the authorities said brought $3.2 million of cocaine into Erie over two years and five months, ending in the spring of 2022 .
DeLeon, 30, a resident of Puerto Rico, was the ring’s third-in-command. He was indicted in May 2022 on a felony conspiracy charge that he acquired the cocaine through sources in Costa Rica and got it to Puerto Rico, where the ring’s first- and second-highest leaders arranged to have it shipped to Erie in the mail. The ring also operated in central Florida.
DeLeon had the organizational skills and the business acumen to help run the drug ring — one of the largest ever prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Erie. The shipments of cocaine totaled an estimated 75 to 100 kilograms with a street value of $2.4 million to $3.2 million — approximately $32,000 per kilo, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office .
But following his indictment and his guilty plea, in August, something that DeLeon lacked might have helped him the most. He had no prior record, despite his involvement in such a sophisticated operation, in which other defendants were charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and fentanyl pills .