Bucks Co. Inmate Gets 10 To 40 More Years For Drug Smuggling: DA

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — A 40-year-old man awaiting retrial for a double homicide conviction was sentenced to between 10 and 40 years in state prison for running a drug smuggling ring inside Bucks County Correctional Facility, the district attorney's office said Friday.

The Bucks County District Attorney said Alfonso Sanchez conspired with at least 10 others to smuggle suboxone into the prison from May of 2020 through December of 2020.

Suboxone is actually a substance often used to treat opioid addiction, according to a 2021 article from Harvard Medical School. Those who are not prescribed suboxone — and so technically use it illegally — are often using the drug to manage withdrawal or wean off heroin or fentanyl, the article detailed.

Sanchez pleaded guilty on Friday to charges of corrupt organizations, delivery of a controlled substance, conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, conspiracy to dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, possession of contraband, conspiracy to possession of contraband, criminal use of a communication facility, and conspiracy to criminal use of a communication facility.

Common Pleas Judge Brian T. McGuffin sentenced Sanchez to between 119 months and 480 months in state prison, along with 10 years of state probation, the DA said.

Investigators found Sanchez was buying the strips for a couple dollars each outside the jail and then selling them to incarcerated people for between $100 and $200 per strip. They paid for the drugs through various means such as mobile payment apps, a change.org fund and putting money directly on his books, Deputy District Attorney Mary Kate Kohler said.

She also said Sanchez, as a high-ranking member of the Latin Kings gang, orchestrated having the strips sent to him — or to other incarcerated people who'd pass them on to him — through mailed packages.

Some were disguised as legal mail coming from the Federal Defender's Office, and others inside the bindings of books, the DA said. Kohler said that when that scheme failed, Sanchez tried to have people with active warrants smuggle suboxone strips inside their body and then turn themselves in to the jail, or send the strips inside Bibles received through mail.

She said that investigators found some drugs before they entered the prison, but estimated that between 100 and 150 suboxone strips made it into the jail.

Bucks County Correctional Facility Director David Kratz testified that Sanchez had six misconducts, mostly for his misuse of communication devices, against him while he was in jail awaiting his retrial for the October 2007 killings of Lisa Marie Diaz, 27, and Mendez Thomas Jr., 22, in Warminster.

In 2008, Sanchez was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, the DA said. He later appealed his conviction and the District Attorney’s Office agreed to a retrial in 2017.

In addition to the retrial, Sanchez is also awaiting trial after being accused of plotting to have a key witness in the double homicide case killed, the DA said.

The investigation was conducted by Bucks County Correctional Facility Investigators and the Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force.

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