Eight Members Of Puerto Rico-Based Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced

Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew has sentenced eight members of a Puerto Rico-based drug trafficking organization to federal prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine in the Tampa Bay area. Each of the eight individuals had previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced as follows:

The court also ordered Luis Agosto-Morales to forfeit $24,587, which are traceable to proceeds of the offense.

According to court documents, the individuals were part of an organization that trafficked in cocaine delivered from Puerto Rico via parcels sent to the Middle District of Florida. Proceeds of the cocaine sales were delivered to Raymond Jose De La Cruz and Jose Manuel Robles Negron, to be returned to Jacques Orsini-Martinez and others in Puerto Rico. The cocaine sent from Puerto Rico was supplied via a transnational criminal organization operating in and around the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Juan Carlos Orsini-Martinez was in federal prison at the time of the conspiracy but used a contraband cellphone to discuss the payment of drug proceeds back to Puerto Rico.

This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service and Tampa Police Department.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Diego Novaes and Dan Baeza.

OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.