Major Drug Offenders Found Guilty

The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office says the principal participants in a drug distribution operation based in California were convicted Tuesday in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court.  Prosecutors say Hector Gomez and Rember Moscoso were found guilty after a bench trial before Judge Kelly Cottrill.  The two were charged with having a hidden compartment in a motor vehicle for transporting narcotics, a felony of the second degree.  They also plead no contest to possession and trafficking of methamphetamine, both felonies of the first degree with major drug offender specifications.  Judge Cottrill found them guilty on both counts. Prosecutors says Moscoso and Gomez were participants in a criminal organization based in Bakersfield, California which distributes narcotics to a number of locations, including Zanesville.  They face a minimum of eleven years of imprisonment, and a maximum of nineteen years of imprisonment.  Sentencing will be held at a later date. The case stems from their arrest after both were found on July 11th, 2017 in possession of 12.3 pounds of methamphetamine at a local hotel.  A co-offender was stopped by the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force for a minor traffic violation in Licking County.  Evidence from that stop brought the pair to the attention of law enforcement in Muskingum County.  The Prosecutor’s office says Gomez and Moscoso are principal participants in their drug operation that stretches across the United States and is another example of Muskingum County’s intolerance for the illegal drug trade.