Chicopee Man Pleads Guilty to Role in Drug Conspiracy

A man has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to transport drugs and cash using secret compartments inside tractor trailers.

Jamil Roman, 44, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, was indicted in 2016. He pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Springfield to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

In 2014, Roman, who owned an auto body shop, and a co-defendant, Javier Gonzalez, conspired to distribute cocaine in western Massachusetts, prosecutors said.

Roman admitted to meeting with Gonzalez and conspiring to collect a debt owed for the cocaine, which was part of a larger load obtained from a Mexican supply source.

Law enforcement officers seized about $1.17 million in cash from a hidden compartment inside a tractor trailer being driven by Gonzalez to Texas as payment for the drugs, prosecutors said. Gonzalez was sentenced in October to 2 1/2 years in prison and fined $20,000.