SCRANTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Gilbert Concepcion, age 44, formerly of Reading, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on April 26, 2022, to 70 months of imprisonment by United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani. Concepcion previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic crystal methamphetamine.
According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Concepcion admitted to distributing approximately 2.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine with his coconspirators, between December 2014 and August 2015. The crystal methamphetamine was determined by laboratory analysis to qualify as high purity “Ice,” or actual methamphetamine.
In addition to Concepcion, Donald Fritz, Jr., formerly of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, was previously convicted of crystal methamphetamine trafficking and firearms offenses during the course of this investigation. Fritz was sentenced to 100 months of imprisonment.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo prosecuted the case.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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