News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
Peter F. Neronha
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island

September 24, 2010

3 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON IN ECSTASY TRAFFICKING CASE 

PROVIDENCE R.I. – Jose Francisco Medina-Liz, 52, formerly of Providence, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Providence to 36 months in federal prison on charges of trafficking in Ecstasy and illegally reentering the country after having been deported. Medina-Liz pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2009.

United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha announced the sentence, which was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith.

            At the time of Medina-Liz’s guilty plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah told the court that had the matter proceeded to trial, the government’s evidence would have shown that, on July 17, 2009, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force arrested Medina-Liz in Cranston after he was found to be in possession of 994 Ecstasy tablets.

Subsequent investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents determined that Medina-Liz had been deported to the Dominican Republic in March 1993.  He had been convicted in April 1992 in Rhode Island state court of drug trafficking, and was sentenced to serve three years in prison.

The defendant faces deportation proceedings after the completion of the sentence imposed in federal court today.

Cranston Police assisted the DEA Task Force in the investigation of this matter.

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Contact: 401-709-5357
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