Investigation Leads to Arrest of Three Men for Cocaine Trafficking

BOSTON – Three Worcester men were arrested and charged yesterday evening following a joint federal and state investigation targeting narcotics trafficking in central Massachusetts.

Deibby Garcia, 36, his brother, Japhet Garcia, 33, and Erick Cruz, 28, all of Worcester, were charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine, possession with the intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine, and use of a telecommunications facility (cellphones) in furtherance of narcotics trafficking.  The defendants will appear in federal court in Worcester for a detention hearing on Friday, Jan.19, 2018.

According to court documents, in early December 2017, Japhet Garcia and another individual, entered a Worcester Postal Facility and attempted to retrieve a package shipped from Puerto Rico that had been found to contain approximately three kilograms of cocaine. 

Subsequent to those events, a court-authorized wiretap of a phone belonging to Deibby Garcia revealed discussions between Deibby Garcia and an unidentified individual concerning the delivery of two packages from Puerto Rico on Jan. 16, 2017.  The intercepts further revealed that Deibby Garcia made arrangements with Erick Cruz, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, to have the packages picked up once they had arrived in Massachusetts. 

As alleged in court documents, during the course of communications between Jan. 9, 2018, and Jan. 13, 2018, Cruz texted Deibby Garcia two addresses, both of which were on Cruz’s assigned route as a letter carrier.  Deibby Garcia, in turn, forwarded the addresses to what authorities believed to be his cocaine source in Puerto Rico.  On Jan. 12, 2018, two packages were sent from Puerto Rico to the addresses provided by Cruz and Deibby Garcia.  On Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, one package was searched pursuant to a federal search warrant and was found to contain three kilograms of cocaine.  The following day, federal agents permitted the second package to be provided to Cruz for delivery. 

Agents thereafter intercepted discussions between Cruz and Deibby Garcia in which they discussed arrangements for Deibby Garcia to have the second package picked up, and discussed what had happened to the package that had been seized and searched.  Soon after, the men were arrested and the second package was recovered.

The charge of conspiring to distribute in excess of 500 grams of cocaine provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, at least four years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $5 million.  The charge of use of a telecommunications device in furtherance of a violent felony provides for a sentence of no greater than four years in prison, up to one year of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Raymond Moss, Acting Inspector in Charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service; Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent; made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Grady of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the court documents are allegations.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.