Puerto Rico Woman Who Flew to Philadelphia With Nearly 15 Pounds of Cocaine in Checked Bag Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking Offense

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Karelys Colon Sevilla, 29, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, entered a plea of guilty today before United States District Judge Kelley Brisbon Hodge on one count of possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

The defendant was charged with that offense by indictment in May 2024, following her arrest on a criminal complaint and warrant in February of that year.

As detailed in court filings, on February 13, 2024, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) received information that Colon was flying commercially from Puerto Rico, via Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, to the Philadelphia International Airport (“PHL”) and possibly concealing narcotics in her checked luggage. After HSI confirmed that Colon was indeed a ticketed passenger set to arrive at PHL, investigators sought and received from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas an anticipatory search warrant for the defendant’s luggage, contingent on an alert from a Police K-9 on the luggage.

Following the arrival of Colon’s plane to PHL, Pennsylvania State Police K-9 Ivan was instructed by his handler to examine every piece of checked luggage from that flight. K-9 Ivan only alerted to the presence of narcotics on one piece of luggage, a blue-gray soft-sided bag bearing a tag with the defendant’s name and flight information.

Pursuant to the search warrant and the K-9’s alert, investigators then opened the bag and recovered approximately 6.8 kilograms of a white substance, which testing later showed was cocaine.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on February 3 and faces a maximum possible sentence of lifetime imprisonment, at least five years of supervised release, and a $10 million fine.

This case was investigated by HSI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, and the Pennsylvania State Police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eileen Castilla Geiger.

Note: the posting of this press release was delayed, due to the federal government shutdown from October 1, 2025, to November 12, 2025.