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Harrisburg man will serve up to 20 years in prison after drug, illegal firearms conviction

DAUPHIN COUNTY — A 27-year-old Harrisburg man will serve up to 20 years in prison after being sentenced last week by Dauphin County Court Judge Royce Morr...
ortiz-cruz

DAUPHIN COUNTY — A 27-year-old Harrisburg man will serve up to 20 years in prison after being sentenced last week by Dauphin County Court Judge Royce Morris, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.

Luis Ortiz-Cruz was convicted in August of drug and gun charges stemming from a search of a Susquehanna Township residence on the 3800 block of Crooked Hill Road. State Police discovered a kilogram of cocaine, numerous firearms, a money counter and ballistics vests. Ortiz-Cruz was one of five men in the home at the time of the search.

Ortiz-Cruz was convicted of illegal firearms possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine by a Dauphin County jury on August 17.

At sentencing, Senior Deputy District Attorney Stephen R. Zawisky asked that the court run Ortiz-Cruz’s sentences consecutively to give him more time behind bars.  The court obliged, sentencing Ortiz-Cruz to the statutory maximum permitted for both counts — twenty years.

Zawisky argued that the large amount of cocaine along with the firearms and ballistics vests were indicative of a complex and potentially violent drug conspiracy.

Ortiz-Cruz’s co-conspirators are scheduled for sentencing in the coming weeks.

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