FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
December 1, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOWIE COUPLE SENTENCED FOR HEROIN CONSPIRACY
Supervised and Recruited Couriers to Smuggle Heroin from Ghana, Germany and the U.K.
BALTIMORE, Maryland - Godfrey Bonsu, age 44, and his wife, Victoria Boateng, age 42, both of Bowie, Maryland were sentenced today to14 years in prison, and 11 years 3 months in prison, respectively, with each sentence followed by 5 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to import and conspiracy to distribute heroin, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake enhanced their sentences after finding that they were supervisors or managers of the drug conspiracy. Judge Blake also found that Bonsu had obstructed justice by testifying falsely at a pre-trial suppression hearing.
According to the evidence presented at trial in February, from September 2003 to December 2004, Bonsu and Boateng recruited couriers from Ghana to smuggle heroin from Ghana, Germany and the United Kingdom. The couriers, several of whom testified at the trial, swallowed pellets containing heroin before flying into the United States. They would then provide the heroin to the defendants at a hotel in Maryland.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mr. Rosenstein also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Hanlon and James G. Warwick, who prosecuted the case.
This page last modified—November 20, 2006