OAKLAND — An Antioch drug dealer who moved cocaine by the kilogram has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in federal prison, court records show.
Lorenzo Lee, 70, is set to report to the Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 3 to begin serving his sentence. He pleaded guilty to a drug distribution charge and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, records show.
Lee worked with others in Contra Costa County to distribute cocaine, heroin, crack and other drugs, and while he didn’t sell methamphetamine, he allowed 20 pounds of it to be stored at his home for someone else, according to federal prosecutors. During the investigation, a courier was arrested leaving Lee’s home with six kilograms of cocaine and more than $100,000 in cash, authorities said.
Others in the vast drug conspiracy included a courier who was arrested in Fairfield with four kilograms of fentanyl and more than $40,000 in cash. The investigation occurred in 2018-19 and included a wiretap of Lee’s phone and a surveillance camera set up on a pole outside his Antioch home, records show.
Lee’s lawyer, Gail Shifman, described Lee in court papers as a “simple, humble man” defined by his generosity.
“He is not flashy or arrogant. He is not greedy. He is a personable, kind, and good man albeit not well educated. He is a considerate soul, generous to a fault, who seeks to improve the lives of his family and those around him in his community,” Shifman wrote in a sentencing memo. “He is, in fact, the exact opposite of the type of person that someone expects when one thinks of the offense conduct to which he pled.”
The defense argued for no jail time. Prosecutors made no specific request for a prison sentence, which is unusual for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Northern California.
