A former Florida resident has been sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

US Western District of Pennsylvania Judge Marilyn J. Horan sentenced Hector Forbes, age 48, formerly of Sunrise, Florida, to prison on Tuesday.

Forbes was convicted after the court ruled that he was one of the leaders of a large-scale cocaine distribution network that smuggled substantial quantities of cocaine from Mexico into California and then distributed that cocaine throughout the US, including to the Western District of Pennsylvania. 

Forbes was previously convicted of a drug trafficking offense in 2012 and deported in 2015, only to re-enter the United States illegally in 2016, where according to the court he re-established himself as a drug trafficker.

Forbes was convicted of arranging for the shipment of cocaine, typically sent through the mail to addresses in Ohio, Pittsburgh, New Castle, and Florida.

The case was investigated by Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, and assisted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the New Castle Police Department, the Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.