A 35-year-old Newport News man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to a drug charge stemming from activities at his pipe and tobacco stores in Hampton and York County.
Salvatore Lopiccolo entered a guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to one felony count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute analogues, controlled substances and paraphernalia. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced July 24.
Investigators believe Lopiccolo and others conspired to distribute and possess a variety of drugs and drug analogues — chemical structures similar to known drugs — from the two Bonsai Pipe and Tobacco locations. Law enforcement officers made multiple controlled purchases of cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, methylone, psilocybin, drug analogues and drug paraphernalia from both Lopiccolo and his employees, according to a Department of Justice news release.
Law enforcement agents raided the two Bonsai locations as well as four residences in Newport News and Hampton in November. Lopiccolo was arrested then along with 21-year-old Matthew Kidd-Hux of New Carrollton, Md.; 28-year-old John Woodin of Hampton; 28-year-old Marcus Woods of Hampton; and 21-year-old Meghan Stout of Gloucester County.
The other defendants were scheduled to be arraigned Monday, however court records do not yet reflect the outcome of those hearings.
Lopiccolo also faces one count of conspiracy to launder money, one counts of distribution of drug paraphernalia, two counts of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of use of a firearm in drug trafficking and eight counts of distribution of a controlled substance. A DOJ spokesperson said those charges will be dealt with at his July 24 sentencing.
Law enforcement spent almost two years investigating Lopiccolo and the activities at his stores. The investigation included representatives from the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations Division, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Postal Inspections, Air Force Office of Special Investigation, Coast Guard Investigative Services, Newport News Police Department, Hampton Police Department and the Virginia State Police Tri-Rivers and Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Task Forces.
