Pittsburgh Review

A former resident of Oxnard, California, was sentenced in federal court on August 14, 2024, to five years of imprisonment on his conviction for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

United States District Judge W. Scott Hardy imposed the sentence on Christopher Andrew Salgado, 24.

According to information presented to the Court, between March 2022 and September 2022, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) conducted an investigation into a drug trafficking organization operating in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The investigation revealed that a cocaine source of supply in California would mail parcels containing kilogram quantities of cocaine to a residence in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. After investigators seized a parcel containing two kilograms of cocaine before it reached the Aliquippa residence, the source of supply began sending the parcels to Salgado in West Virginia. Thereafter, mobile and electronic surveillance confirmed that Salgado would drive the parcels from West Virginia to the Pittsburgh International Airport, pick up co-defendant Jose Sanchez, who would arrive on flights from California, and transport both the parcel and Sanchez to another co-defendant, Romaro Foster Sr., in Aliquippa.

Following one re-supply of cocaine to Foster, law enforcement followed Salgado as he drove Sanchez back to the Pittsburgh airport and observed Salgado dispose of a box in the trash of a fast food restaurant parking lot. Investigators recovered the box, observing a shipping label with Salgado’s West Virginia address as well as drug packaging material within the box. A field test of the packaging revealed the presence of cocaine.

In August 2022, investigators seized a parcel sent from California to Salgado in West Virginia. The parcel contained approximately two kilograms of cocaine. Investigators conducted a controlled delivery operation at Salgado’s residence and executed a federal search warrant at his home concurrently with this operation. From Salgado’s bedroom, investigators recovered another parcel sent from California containing approximately two kilograms of cocaine along with a loaded 9mm handgun, an empty pistol magazine, a box of ammunition, and a digital scale.

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

United States Attorney Olshan commended the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Drug Enforcement Administration for their efforts leading to Salgado's successful prosecution.

This prosecution is part of an OCDETF investigation. OCDETF identifies disrupts and dismantles high-level drug traffickers; money launderers; gangs; and transnational criminal organizations threatening the United States by using a prosecutor-led intelligence-driven multi-agency approach that leverages federal state and local law enforcement agencies' strengths against criminal networks.