A 39-year-old Tucson man was sentenced to 88-months in prison earlier this week, after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, officials said.
Authorities learned that Pedro Rafael Gonzalez-Zazueta supplied cocaine to customers in California and Arizona beginning in 2013, said Cosme Lopez, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Justice.
After one of his customers in California was arrested in December 2013, Gonzalez-Zazueta began distributing cocaine to Phoenix residents between the spring of 2014 and the summer of 2015, Lopez said.
Two of his customers, who were previously sentenced in connection with the conspiracy, would transport the cocaine from Arizona to Alabama, after which Gonzalez-Zazueta would be paid, according to Lopez.
Investigators determined that the defendants laundered more than $145,000 in drug money, and also tried to ship methamphetamine to Pennsylvania via mail, and a search of Gonzalez-Zazueta's home led to the seizure of $417,000, Lopez said.
