Two New Castle men have been sentenced in connection with a cocaine trafficking operation that involved 17 total individuals spanning from Lawrence County, to Puerto Rico and Youngstown. 

Luciana Bratini Rivera, 37, and Markus Hobel, 35, were both sentenced by Judge Arthur Schwab.

Rivera was sentenced to a little over eight years in prison followed by four years of supervised release for "conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine". This equals a little more than a pound.

He was also sentenced for possessing and intending to distribute a separate amount of cocaine on two separate dates. 

Hobel was sentenced to six years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for "conspiring to distribute and posses with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine" and using a firearm to further a drug trafficking crime.