Colombian Supplier Sentenced to Prison for Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Colombian man was sentenced today to six and a half years in prison for conspiring to distribute over 5 kilograms of cocaine knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States.

According to court documents, Jorge Barbosa Alvarez, 33, was a member of a Colombian drug trafficking organization (DTO) based in South America. Between February and November 2016, Alvarez facilitated a multi-hundred kilogram cocaine transaction that was to be routed from South America to Central America, with a final destination of the United States. Specifically, Alvarez provided 5 kilograms of cocaine that was a sample batch for a 600-kilogram load of cocaine that he and his conspirators would provide for the transaction.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Colombian Control. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia, and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Virginia Assistant Attorney General Lena Munasifi prosecuted the case.

This case was investigated by the Washington Field Office’s Safe Streets/HIDTA Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI Special Agents, as well as task force officers from the Fairfax County Police, Prince William County Police, Leesburg Police, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, the Alexandria City Police, the Vienna Police, the Herndon Police, the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office, Fairfax City Police, and the Arlington County Police, and works partnership with the DEA, the ATF, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Marshal Service. This task force is charged with identifying, disrupting and dismantling the most egregious narcotics trafficking organizations and gangs operating in Northern Virginia.   

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:16-cr-256.