CAMDEN – A Camden man who had spent eight years on the lam after being indicted in 1998 was sentenced today to 82 months in federal prison for his role in a Camden cocaine trafficking organization that was operated by Jonathan Ringo, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler also ordered Bruce McDade, 34, formerly of Camden, to serve five years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term.

McDade had been a fugitive since being federally indicted, along with Ringo and two others, on drug charges on May 26, 1998. Previously, Jonathan Ringo, 40, formerly of Willingboro, McDade and the others were arrested on state charges on Oct. 14, 1997, as a result of a cooperative multi-agency law enforcement investigation into cocaine trafficking in Camden. In early 2006, Special Agents of the FBI developed information that McDade was in the Delaware Valley region and were able to locate and arrest him in Philadelphia on May 23, 2006. He has been held in federal detention since his arrest.

McDade pleaded guilty before Judge Kugler on March 15, 2007, to a one-count Superseding Information charging him with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute in excess of five kilograms of cocaine.

At his plea hearing, McDade admitted that from 1992 to October 1997 he had worked for Ringo. During that time period, Ringo controlled and supervised an organization of people for the purpose of distributing cocaine, McDade admitted. McDade admitted that Ringo's organization operated at least two open air drug markets in South Camden. McDade admitted that he assisted Ringo by bagging the cocaine for eventual distribution to buyers at the open air drug markets and by doing other tasks as directed by Ringo.

Ringo pleaded guilty on March 10, 2000, before U.S. District Judge Stephen M. Orlofsky, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and 50 grams of crack cocaine. On Feb. 16, 2001, Judge Orlofsky sentenced Ringo to 140 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $17,500 fine.

In determining the actual sentence, Judge Kugler consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI's South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge J.P. Weis, Philadelphia Division, and Investigators and Assistant Prosecutors with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Joshua M. Ottenberg, with the investigation.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Wiener of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division in Camden.

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Defense Attorney: Rocco C. Cipparone, Esq. Haddon Heights