ALIQUIPPA ― A city man entered a guilty plea in federal court Friday for trafficking cocaine across the Ohio border.
According to court documents, detectives arrested 60-year-old James Louis Peronis, of Aliquippa, in July 2021 on drug trafficking charges. Sentencing is scheduled for April 2025, and a release from the court notes that Peonis can face up to 40 years in prison and up to $5 million in fines.
Prosecutors said a joint operation from local, federal and state police in May 2021 had concluded that Peronis would obtain cocaine from Ohio and distribute it in western Pennsylvania. On July 1, 2021, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop as Peronis was entering Pennsylvania after one of these transactions. During a consensual search of the vehicle, police seized nearly two kilograms of cocaine.
Judges noted that the investigation into Peronis was operated under the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in Beaver County.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Aliquippa man enters guilty plea for cocaine trafficking