Two New Kensington men have been added to the list of people indicted in a Department of Justice investigation of an alleged cocaine trafficking organization in Western Pennsylvania.
Andres Flores-Cedeno, 39, of New Kensington and Marcos Francisco-Tomas, 34, of Riverside, Calif., arrested last year, were indicted previously. Authorities said the arrests took place at a home two doors down from Martin Elementary School, the New Kensington-Arnold School District’s kindergarten school. Authorities said they had 22 pounds of cocaine in the house.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced New Kensington residents Raymond Simmons, 54, and Toriano Wilson, 46, have also been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to distribute cocaine.
Also indicted was Aaron Mitchell, 48, of Pittsburgh. Authorities also accuse Mitchell of carrying a .45-caliber pistol as a convicted felon.
Eight other people who have been indicted come from New York City, Miami, Albuquerque, N.M., and Los Angeles and other California locales.
A news release didn’t describe the supposed relationship between those indicted or how the alleged drug operation functioned.
Court documents mentioned authorities had seized more than $250,000 in cash from several hotel rooms in North Fayette, about $21,000 from a Penn Hills home and nearly $16,000 from the New Kensington home where Flores-Cedeno and Francisco-Tomas were arrested.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation leading to the 2024 indictments. The prosecution is part of a Homeland Security task force charged with eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations, according to a release from the Justice Department.
Flores-Cedeno, who authorities say was carrying a Mexican passport, was arrested outside the New Kensington house in 2024. Francisco-Tomas fled and was apprehended in the school’s parking lot, according to court records.
Investigators said they had been watching the men come and go from the house for months before they moved in to arrest them after seeing Flores-Cedeno get into a tractor-trailer that stopped in front of the house and Francisco-Tomas get out of the truck carrying a duffel bag believed to contain cocaine.
