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Two more individuals were sentenced last week in connection to a murder committed during a drug conspiracy that went from California to Cortland County, according to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of New York.
Edgar Arrendondo, 31, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Jose Pimentel received 12 years in prison for “conspiring to provide more than 50 grams of methamphetamine” to Kyle Leeper.
Leeper pleaded guilty last May, admitting he was part of a conspiracy that trafficked methamphetamine from Indiana and Los Angeles to Cortland County. The locations are where Leeper distributed meth to local residents and drug dealers, the release stated.
Arrendondo's sentencing this past Thursday also included his possession of a shotgun and ammunition. Arrendondo and Pimentel also received five years of post-release supervision.
“Leeper was at the center of the conspiracy that trafficked methamphetamine from Indiana and Southern California to Cortland County, where Leeper distributed it to local residents and drug dealers. In the fall of 2018, co-defendant Crystal Stephens, of Groton, who was incarcerated in Indiana on burglary charges, contacted Leeper by telephone with contact information for co-defendant John Rice, an Indiana-based methamphetamine dealer. Leeper communicated with Rice by telephone and then traveled to and from Indiana twice in late 2018 and early 2019, where he obtained crystal methamphetamine and a .380 caliber pistol from Rice. Leeper distributed this methamphetamine in the Cortland area.
After Rice was arrested in Indiana in early January 2019, Leeper arranged to travel to the Los Angeles area to purchase more methamphetamine. From jail, Stephens provided Leeper with telephone numbers for possible methamphetamine sources in East Los Angeles. In mid-January 2019, Leeper and an associate, co-defendant Ramon Nieves-Cotto, drove from Cortland to Los Angeles, where Leeper contacted one of these sources. The source sought assistance from co-defendant Arlene Rodriguez, who introduced Leeper to a middleman. On Jan. 17, 2019, this middleman arranged for Leeper to buy three pounds of crystal methamphetamine for $5,000 from co-defendant Jose Pimentel. But after the methamphetamine was delivered to a motel in El Monte, California, Leeper realized that he had been shortchanged on the quantity delivered. Leeper abducted the middleman and Rodriguez at gunpoint. Later that day, Nieves-Cotto purchased zip ties, which Leeper used to bind the middleman. On the night of Jan. 17, 2019, in the desert in Barstow, California, Leeper shot the bound middleman eight times from behind with the .380 caliber pistol, killing him. Leeper and Nieves-Cotto, along with Rodriguez, then drove to Cortland, where Leeper distributed the methamphetamine he obtained on this trip to California.
In early February 2019, Leeper, Nieves-Cotto, and Rodriguez returned to Los Angeles, where Leeper purchased an additional 6-to-8 pounds of methamphetamine and a 9 mm pistol from co-defendant Edgar Arredondo. Upon his return to Cortland, Leeper, assisted by Rodriguez, began to distribute this methamphetamine. On Feb. 19, 2019, officers from the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office stopped Leeper and Rodriguez while they were driving in Leeper’s pickup truck, which had an expired registration and cracked windshield. Inside the truck, the officers found four pounds of high-purity methamphetamine, the loaded .380 caliber pistol Leeper had used to commit the murder, and ammunition. They arrested Leeper, who previously had been convicted of state and federal felony offenses in Pennsylvania, and Rodriguez.”
The following four other co-defendants were either sentenced or pleaded guilty to participating in the drug trafficking conspiracy with Leeper, and/or aiding and abetting the murder:
- Ramon Nieves-Cotto, of DeRuyter, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a murder during a drug conspiracy, and conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. He was sentenced on Oct. 7 of last year to serve 156 months in federal prison, and a four-year term of supervised release.
- Crystal J. Stephens, of Groton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. She was sentenced on Nov. 15 of last year to serve 100 months in federal prison, and a four-year term of supervised release.
- Arlene N. Rodriguez, of Montebello, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime. She was sentenced on Oct. 6 of last year to serve 94 months in prison, to be followed by a four-year term of supervised release.
- John Rice, of Crawfordsville, Ind., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
