News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
April 30, 2009
Five-year sentence for two kilograms of cocaine
shipped through the mail
A federal judge has sentenced Jeffrey Martinez, 25, of Providence, to five years in prison for accepting delivery of a package containing two kilograms of cocaine that had been mailed from Puerto Rico.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentence, which Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi imposed yesterday in U.S. District Court, Providence.
In July 2008, Martinez pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute a half-kilogram or more of cocaine. At the plea hearing, the government said it could prove that, in June 2008, federal agents in Puerto Rico intercepted a package containing cocaine, addressed to a residence on Marlborough Street, Providence.
Agents for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA) in Providence arranged a controlled delivery of the package. On June 10, Martinez approached a Postal Inspector, who was in a vehicle parked near the Marlborough Street address, waiting for a HIDTA surveillance team to arrive and witness the delivery. Martinez asked the inspector for a phone number that would help him track a package that he was expecting from Puerto Rico.
A short time later, the Postal Inspector went to the address to deliver the package and saw Martinez waiting in front of the building. Martinez signed for the package and was arrested. The package contained a little more than two kilograms of cocaine. Martinez later told agents that he was to have been paid $3,000 for taking delivery of the package.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard B. Myrus prosecuted the case, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind Shah.
Contact: 401-709-5032 Thomas.connell@usdoj.gov