News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2003

Springfield Man Sentenced to 25 years for Cocaine Trafficking

Springfield, MA...A Springfield man was sentenced yesterday in federal court to 25 years in federal prison for distributing cocaine and crack cocaine.

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, announced that Bernie RUIZ, age 35, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 25 years in federal prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release following his conviction on two counts of distributing cocaine and one count of distributing crack cocaine.

At an earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government's evidence would have proven that on three occassions in February and March of 2002, RUIZ sold a cooperating witness a total of 67.8 grams of cocaine and 52.7 grams of crack cocaine.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Springfield Task Force.

Press Contact S/A Anthony Pettigrew, 617-557-2138