Press Release
Container Ship Crewmembers Sentenced For Conspiring To Import Over Three Tons of Cocaine
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS – On September 19, 2019 United States District Judge Barry Ashe sentenced two Colombians, JHONNY RODRIGUEZ ALVAREZ, age 36, and ARIEL CALVO HENAO, age 52, two Ecuadorians, HECTOR RAFAEL GOMEZ LIMONES, age 38, VICENTE LOPEZ MERO, age 61, and four Peruvians JESUS JUSTO TASA CERVANTES, age 65, BORIS WISMARK VERGARA MONCADA, age 54, WALTER REYNALDO VIERA SULLON, age 45 and EDISON OMAR OTERO CRUZ, age 26, for conspiring to import 3,400 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The sentencings took place over the last several weeks, with the final defendant being sentenced today.
All of the defendants were crewmembers aboard a container vessel that was traveling from Chimbote, Peru to Ensenada, Mexico, which is near the border with the United States. The U.S. Coast Guard interdicted the vessel in international waters south of Costa Rica. After extensive searching, law enforcement found a hidden compartment inside a ballast tank on the vessel. Inside the hidden compartment, law enforcement located approximately 3,400 kilograms of cocaine.
As part of the plea agreement, the crewmembers all acknowledged that after the vessel left port in Peru, it met up at sea with speedboats sent from near the Colombia/Ecuador border. The vessel crew used an onboard crane to load the tons of cocaine off of the speedboats and onto the deck of the container vessel. The crewmembers then moved the cocaine into a secret compartment that had been constructed specifically to hide the cocaine. The sophisticated compartment was secured with headless screws and covered with putty so that it was virtually impossible to detect.
Pursuant to the plea agreement with the United States, the crewmembers, many of whom claimed they were forced into participating in the smuggling operation by the individuals who organized the shipment, faced a statutory maximum sentence of sixty months. District Judge Ashe sentenced each of them to the statutory maximum term, as well as one year of supervised release.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the United States Coast Guard. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Haller.
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Updated September 20, 2019
Topic
Drug Trafficking
Component