A Beaver County man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison for his involvement in distributing significant amounts of cocaine and heroin. Kijana Lowe, 27, from Aliquippa, pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy. The investigation was a collaborative effort by the Office of Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Beaver County HIDTA Group, and the Pennsylvania State Police. The prosecution was handled jointly with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Attorney General Dave Sunday expressed appreciation for the teamwork that led to Lowe's conviction: “I am grateful for the hard work and collaboration between our federal, state, and local partners which led to an upper-level drug trafficker being taken off the streets.”
In November 2021, Lowe was involved in an attempt to purchase 10 kilos of cocaine in Allegheny County with nearly $300,000. Law enforcement intercepted this exchange, recovering both drugs and cash. As a result, Lowe and five others were charged.
Adelin Hernandez Amparo from the Dominican Republic and Anthony Tusweet Smith Jr., also from Aliquippa, have previously pleaded guilty. Amparo received a sentence of nearly three-and-a-half years followed by two years of supervised release. Smith was sentenced to five years in prison with an additional four years under supervision.
Santos Castro-Mota from Brooklyn is currently awaiting trial while Luis David Paredes Sanchez from Philadelphia and Guillermo Alexis Evangelista Estevez remain at large.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Kara Cotter along with Assistant United States Attorney Brendan J. McKenna.