A Phoenix, Arizona, man with ties to the Sinaloa Drug Cartel has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison for his role in a drug trafficking organization that sold cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey announced.
Jose Alberto Camarena Rocha, 32, received a 159-month federal prison sentence for a drug conspiracy involving more than one kilogram of heroin and for illegally reentering the United States, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided over the sentencing.
According to the release, Rocha served as a supplier for a larger trafficking organization led by Juan Suarez-Lugo, using cartel connections to obtain and deliver drug supplies to others who sold cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in Berkeley and Jefferson counties. Authorities attributed one and a half kilograms of heroin to Rocha’s involvement, prosecutors said.
“Rocha thought he could get away with bringing this poison from California to the Mountain State,” Harvey said in a statement. “He was wrong and will now spend more than 13 years in prison. Make no mistake. We will eliminate these ruthless cartels and will not tolerate their presence in our home.”
The broader operation involved 18 defendants, prosecutors said. Suarez-Lugo, Rocha and 10 others have admitted guilt, while nine defendants, including Rocha, have been sentenced. Four defendants are scheduled to stand trial in June 2026, and two remain pending arrest on the indictment, according to prosecutors.
The Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force led the investigation, with assistance from numerous federal, state and local agencies including the FBI’s Pittsburgh, San Francisco, San Juan and Philadelphia field offices; the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville and Chicago divisions; Homeland Security Investigations; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Postal Service; the West Virginia State Police; and multiple local law enforcement agencies across West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and California.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a Justice Department initiative aimed at dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations, combating violent crime and addressing illegal immigration, prosecutors said. The release also states that fentanyl has been designated by President Donald Trump as a weapon of mass destruction because of its extreme lethality and threat to public safety, even in trace amounts.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher prosecuted the case.
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