News Release [print friendly page]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 01 , 2008
Contact: S/A Rich Isaacson
Number: (313) 234-4310

New York Man Sentenced to 3 Years for Marijuana Trafficking
-1,400 Pounds Destined for Ohio - Street Value $2.8 million

JUL 01 -- BOWLING GREEN, KY - Kermit Aber Garriques, age 49, Newburgh, New York , was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in United States District Court, Bowling Green, Kentucky, for distributing marijuana, U.S. Attorney David L. Huber of the Western District of Kentucky announced today. United States District Court Judge Thomas B. Russell also sentenced Garriques to 3 years supervised release following incarceration.

Garriques pled guilty to trafficking over 1400 pounds of marijuana on May 27, 2007. The estimated street value of the marijuana is $2.8 million. Garriques admitted that on May 27, 2007, he was the driver of a tractor trailer, when a Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement (KVE) officer stopped the vehicle on Interstate 65 near Bowling Green, Kentucky for a safety inspection. Garriques was traveling to Ohio to distribute the marijuana. During the inspection, the officer located and seized approximately 1405 pounds of marijuana concealed in the trailer.

On February 5, 2008, co-defendant Leon Anthony Bell, who was a passenger in the tractor trailer being driven by Garriques, was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months imprisonment. Bell pled guilty in November 2007, to trafficking over 1400 pounds of marijuana.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert B. Bonar. The Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted the investigation.

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