Major drug suppliers plead guilty in case that touched Mon Valley
Two major drug suppliers pleaded guilty in federal court Friday in one of the largest cases in Western Pennsylvania history that stretched to the Mon Valley and beyond.
Don Juan Mendoza, 42, of Atlanta, Ga., and Pedro Blanco, 38, of Jacksonville, Fla., pleaded guilty to distributing cocaine before Chief U.S. District Judge Mark R. Hornak, the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh said.
The men accepted the responsibility for between 50 and 150 kilograms of the drug in the case that netted 39 indictments and had sources to Mexican cartels.
The men were taken into custody following a November 2017 search of a recreational vehicle at the Penn Hills home of Jamie Lightfoot Jr. that produced 85 pounds of marijuana, 52 kilograms of cocaine, three firearms and about $1 million dollars. Lightfoot pleaded guilty in the case in August.
His brother, Deaubre Lightfoot, 29, of Monessen, also has pleaded guilty to leading the regional operation that also reached Greene County.
Some of the remaining cases were pending in federal court.