NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BRADLEY J. SCHLOZMAN

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

APRIL 4, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW JERSEY MAN CHARGED AFTER HEROIN FOUND

IN VEHICLE’S SECRET COMPARTMENT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Bradley J. Schlozman, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Elizabeth, New Jersey man was charged in federal court today with possession with the intent to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin.

Carlos E. Giraldo, 46, of Elizabeth, was charged in a criminal complaint filed this morning in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

According to the affidavit filed in support of today’s complaint, Giraldo was driving a 1995 Ford Explorer on Interstate 44 in Jasper County, Mo., when he was stopped by a state trooper. Giraldo’s adult son was a passenger in the vehicle. Following a search of the vehicle, the affidavit says, law enforcement officers found six cellophane-wrapped bundles, each containing approximately two pounds of heroin, concealed in a hidden compartment.

Schlozman cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Rush. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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