Men hid in woods to fly drones over New Jersey prison to drop items, feds say
.jpeg "Two men flew drones over Fort Dix prison in New Jersey to drop contraband such as cell phones and more to inmates, federal officials said. They pleaded guilty.")
Two men admitted to participating in a coordinated scheme to deliver items to inmates by flying drones over a federal prison while hiding nearby in the woods in New Jersey, officials said.
On several occasions, they’d drop packages containing contraband such as cellphones, chargers, tobacco, marijuana, testosterone, syringes and men’s hair dye that would be sold to inmates at FCI Fort Dix, according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
Jersey City residents Nicolo Denichilo, 40, and Adrian Goolcharran, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in connection to the multiple drone deliveries, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a Feb. 3 news release.
Two former inmates of the prison, Jason Arteaga-Loayza and Johansel Moronta, had previously pleaded guilty to taking part in the scheme after they “arranged for Goolcharran, with Denichilo’s assistance, to fly drones over Fort Dix” while prisoners, the news release said. The inmates were accused of taking orders for items from others and were in charge of collecting the money.
The drone drops took place in the evening or overnight when it was dark out between November 2018 and March 2020, according to prosecutors.
McClatchy News has reached out to Goolcharran and Denichilo’s attorneys for comment.
Goolcharran would pilot the drones with tape covering their lights — so they’d be tough for prison officials to detect at night — as Denichilo helped while they hid in “concealed positions in the woods surrounding the prison,” officials said in the release.
In July 2018, a Fort Dix prison officer spotted a DJI Matrice 600 Pro drone hovering over an area of the facility’s roof, according to court documents.
When officers arrived at the roof, they found a black bag that had several syringes, cellphones, charges, suspected Clenbuterol pills, vials of sterile water, vials of testosterone and a box of “Just for Men” hair dye, court documents state.
Afterward, several more drone drops occurred at the prison and the packages would be delivered with a string or a wire, according to officials.
In October 2019, a prison officer saw a package hit the ground near the prison’s fence line “attached to a fishing line that (led) the officers into the woods, where a drone was stuck in a tree,” court documents said. This package had 32 Samsung Galaxy phones, SIM cards, chargers, a hand tool with tool bits, and contact lenses.
As a result, Goolcharran and Denichillo became suspects and a forensic DNA analysis of tape stuck on the July 2018 drone traced back to Goolcharran, according to officials. Additionally, a fingerprint on a plastic bag involved in a drone drop was discovered to be Denichilo’s.
In March 2020, a trail camera in the woods captured individuals at the suspected drone launch site that appeared to be Goolcharran and Denichilo using a remote control and later carrying a drone and a drone stand, court documents said.
The two men were eventually caught at the “launch site” by law enforcement agents,, according to prosecutors.
When Denichilo was arrested, agents found “seven crisp $100 bills, likely all or a portion of payment for his role in the drone launch,” according to court documents.
If convicted, both men face a maximum five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for their roles in the drone deliveries, the news release said. Denichilo is scheduled to be sentenced on June 6 and Goolcharran is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.
The Fort Dix federal prison is located by the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and is 23 miles southeast of Trenton.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Men hid in woods to fly drones over New Jersey prison to drop items, feds say."
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