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Press Release

Courier In Baltimore Heroin Distribution Ring Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Jasmine Veras-Rosario, age 35, of Bronx, New York, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department.

According to testimony at Veras-Rosario’s 14 day jury trial, she was part of a heroin trafficking organization led by Danilo Garcia and Walter Powell, that supplied heroin to distributors in Maryland and elsewhere. The evidence showed that Jasmine Veras-Rosario was a courier who worked with her husband, Jan Carlos Veras-Rosario, to deliver heroin on behalf of Garcia in New York to Powell and another conspirator, Roy Lee Clay, in Baltimore. Evidence at trial showed that Jasmine Veras-Rosario traveled from New York to Baltimore by bus, transporting heroin to Baltimore and money representing heroin proceeds from Baltimore back to New York.

At trial, the jury saw video tapes of Jasmine Veras-Rosario going to a residence in West Baltimore where the heroin was delivered. In addition, the jury heard intercepted conversations between Veras-Rosario and Powell in Baltimore in which she discussed, in coded language, both the delivery of heroin and the money owed by Powell.

The jury found that Veras-Rosario was responsible for the distribution of at least one kilogram of heroin.

Roy Lee Clay, age 47, of Baltimore, was also convicted at trial and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14, 2013 at 9:15 a.m. Jan Carlos Veras-Roasario, age 26, of Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentence on August 2, 2013, at 12:00 p.m.

Walter Powell, age 61, of Baltimore, Maryland,was previously sentenced to 121 months in prison for the heroin conspiracy. Co-conspirator Danilo Garcia, age 43, of Bronx, New York was sentenced to 188 months in prison for the heroin conspiracy, and for distribution of heroin.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Baltimore Police Department, Maryland State Police and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in this investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Ayn B. Ducao and Christopher J. Romano, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.

Updated January 26, 2015