Aliquippa Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - A resident of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 15 years of imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of federal supervised release, on his conviction of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine as part of a Homeland Security Task Force investigation and prosecution, United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.

United States District Judge W. Scott Hardy imposed the sentence on Romaro Lanarie Foster Sr., 47.

According to information presented to the Court, Foster was part of an interstate drug trafficking organization that federal authorities investigated between March 2022 and September 2022. The investigation revealed that a source of supply in California would mail parcels containing kilogram quantities of cocaine to a residence in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Following law enforcement's seizure of a parcel containing two kilograms of cocaine en route to the Aliquippa residence, the source of supply began sending the parcels to a co-defendant in West Virginia, who would then drive the parcel from West Virginia to Foster in Aliquippa.

After then also disrupting Foster's ability to obtain cocaine through the West Virginia co-defendant, law enforcement learned that Foster would be traveling to Georgia in order to obtain cocaine for distribution. In September 2022, local law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of Foster in South Carolina on his return trip to the Western District of Pennsylvania, during which officers seized approximately four kilograms of cocaine from Foster's vehicle.

Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Hardy stated that Foster's prior sentences for attempted murder and possession with intent to distribute narcotics did not deter him from engaging in the instant drug trafficking conspiracy and that a significant sentence of 15 years of imprisonment was warranted.

Assistant United States Attorney Brendan J. McKenna prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement toward identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations that have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.